A Typical Pokemon Journey
by Ohfortheloveofpete
Summary: Just your standard Pokémon fanfic...or not.
1. Chapter 1: Start Of A Journey

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_Guess what! I've decided to create a story with a non-indicative name...what? Did you think this story was going to live up to its name?_

_Well guess what...it's not...I'm going to poke fun at Pokemon (both the anime and the video games) and all its general tropes...generally, it's going to be a parody of sorts..._

_It's not going to be an offensive story though...I'm not going to go that far with it...so I'm sorry if I've disappointed you in that regard. Ah well. Let's sit back and enjoy the show!_

**Chapter 1: Start Of A Journey**

Late at night, deep inside Celadon City, there was something sinister cooking inside the Rocket Game Corner...underneath the Game Corner to be precise.

As it turns out, Team Rocket was once again up to no good...this time, they were currently planning to kidnap a young girl and to extort her parents out of their money.

Several Team Rocket admins and higher-ups were sitting at a black table with a red R on it, waiting to hear the commands of their master, Giovanni, who was sitting in his personal chiar, ready to explain the plan.

"Greetings, my minions. I hope you're looking forward to the thought of being a millionaire, because today is the day that we're going to make a million dollars!" explained Giovanni.

"We're going to make a million dollars today? That's a bit much even considering how much you pay us..." inquired one of the admins.

"That we are...and we've got the means to do it, too! Why do you think I called you all here for?" answered Giovanni, handing each of the admins a picture.

"We're going after a young girl? I thought we were going to go after a rare Pokemon like we usually do." inquired another one of the admins.

"Good guess, but no. And it's not just any girl. Believe it or not, she's part of one of the richest families around...the seventh-richest family in the world, in fact. Specifically, she's part of the Hisakawa family... If we can capture her, we'll be able to get her family to do whatever we want...which in this case is to give us a nice chunk of cash." explained Giovanni.

"Now we get it. We're going to hold someone for ransom! Wicked plan, boss!" cheered the admins.

"Yes yes, I know how despicable this plan is going to be. But it's also a rather simple task...so it shall be a task we'll be entrusting to one of our grunts. In fact, we shall be entrusting it to the newest member of our group...who shall be arriving right this minute." said Giovanni.

Sure enough, a Team Rocket Grunt arrived in the room, ready to await the instructions of his master.

"You rang?" inquired the lastest member of Team Rocket.

"Isn't he a little young to be a Team Rocket grunt? I heard that he's only twelve years old..." inquired one of the admins.

"Yes he is...but we never actually set an age limit for the organization to be honest. It's not like we're friends with the local police force, you know." explained Giovanni.

"Oh, right...how could we have forgotten about that." noted another one of the admins.

"Yeah, Officer Jenny is our sworn enemy." answered yet another admin.

"And she's everywhere! It's like she's omnipresent or something!" nodded one of their scientists.

The admins and scientists all shivered in revulsion.

"Your name is Jake, last name Kurosawa, is it not?" inquired Giovanni.

"Yes, sir. That happens to be my name...I'm glad that you remembered it." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well then Jake...I'll going to give you an offer you can't refuse...I want you to bring me a little something special..." said Giovanni, handing the picture of his target.

"You're sending me on a kidnapping mission? But I've only been working for you for a week...don't you think this is a bit much for me?" inquired Jake.

"Well Jake...I'll have you know that if you successfully complete the mission, I'll give you a profit of the cut...how does a thousand dollars sound?" explained Giovanni.

"A thousand dollars? Well, if you think I'm cut out for the job...I suppose I'll accept." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Very good! Here is the address to her estate." said Giovanni as he also handed her address to the Grunt.

"Hopefully I'll be seeing you soon!" said the leader of Team Rocket as he gave Jake his farewells.

"Sheesh...I've only been part of Team Rocket for a week, and already they're sending me on a mission to get a million dollars...what is the world coming to?" thought Jake as he went on the mission.

_Meanwhile, at the Hisakawa Mansion..._

Lucy Hisakawa was having trouble falling asleep and heading off to Dreamland. Why you may ask? Well, tommorrow was the day that she was finally going to get to a Pokemon Trainer...it was going to be a pretty big day for her, and it wasn't going to be an easy wait.

Normally, she would have gone on a Pokemon journey at the age of 10...but since her parents were rather protective of her (possibly a bit overprotective, in fact, but she didn't really mind), they insisted that she waited until she was eleven years old before she started her Pokemon adventure.

Fortunately, though she was rather ditzy (much like a certain Pokemon trainer that owned a PIkachu), she was smart enough not to destroy her alarm clock by mistaking it for a Pokeball, and had in fact had placed it in a place far away from her bed where she would be unable to reach it in her sleep.

"Life is good." she thought. Still, she got the strange feeling that her life was going to change forever soon, and it wasn't simply because she was going to get a Pokemon Trainer license. Why was she getting that feeling?

Curiously, she decided to look out the window and see if there was anything unusual happening outside. Fortunately, there was not...in fact, things seemed pretty normal. Then again, it was pretty quiet outside.

She was well-aware that Professor Oak was handing out free starter Pokemon to those that wanted to go out and challenge the Pokemon League, so she decided that Pallet Town would be a good place to stop first as any.

Her parents had trusted her with a precious sum of money to assist her on her pokemon journey, so getting the supplies she needed to capture Pokemon shouldn't be much of a problem.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed that there was a shooting star crashing to the ground not too far from her house. She nearly jumped in surprise. Curious, she decided to make a wish. Now was an opportunity as any.

"I sure wish that I could make it to the Pokemon League...that would be awesome..." murmured Lucy as she finally went to bed.

_Meanwhile, outside of the Hisakawa Mansion..._

As it turns out, a wild Clefairy had learned a valuable lesson about paying attention to her surroundings when she was flying her spaceship.

"Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy..." she murmured.

How she could have been so careless? She had been flying so well just a few hours ago...how had things gone downhill so fast?

She wondered if her spaceship license was going to be confiscated for her reckless behavior. She in fact dreaded the thought.

But for now, she decided that the best thing that she could do was look for things that she could use to repair her spaceship with. She had to admit, there was a surprisingly large amount of objects that could be used to get it airborne again.

The only question was where exactly she should look. Surely there would be many different possibilities.

Should she try searching into the nearby forest? She might be able to find something...though she doubted she'd be able to find metal there.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a mansion nearby, and she promptly blessed her good fortune. With a building of that size, finding what she needed would be a breeze.

"Clefairy!" cheered the wild Clefairy.

Unfortunately, she didn't consider the possibility that there would be three human beings living inside the building as she advanced towards the mansion.

_Well, it looks like a Pokemon Trainer is getting ready to set out on her pokemon Journey...but it looks like things aren't going to be so simple...a Team Rocket Grunt is after her so that he can extort money from her...and a Clefairy is ready to wreak havoc in her own home before she even sets forth to Pallet Town..._

_Basically, just because she's well-off doesn't mean that she isn't going to undergo hardship...sorry, but I'm trying my best not to create a Mary Sue here...even if this pokes fun at Pokemon every now and then..._

_And in case it's not obvious, Jake and Lucy here are going to be some of the main characters in the story...they're two out of the four main characters in fact...you'll be encountering the other two soon enough..._

_Oh, and you're probably wondering...why am I making a Team Rocket Grunt one of the protagonists? Everyone knows that Team Rocket are bad dudes...well, soon enough, he's going to start to become a good guy...though his history as a Team Rocket Grunt is still going to haunt him eventually..._

_As for whether Jake and Lucy are the main protagonist of my fanfic overall...use your imagination!_

_So what do you think of this story so far? Feel free to leave me a review! It's obliged! Thank you and goodbye!_


	2. Chapter 2: Starter Pokemon

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy's going to receive her first Pokemon...but it's not going to be one of Professor Oak's starters...it's going to be a different Pokemon entirely..._

_As for Jake...well guess what? He has a starter Pokemon already...can you guess what it is? I'll give you a few hints...it doesn't smell too good...and it's one of the Pokemon Team Rocket Grunts typically use..._

_Oh, and it is a Generation I pokemon...since you know, this story takes place in Kanto. Of course, if I decide to write a sequel to this story, I'll be moving on to other regions...that's assuming of course you enjoy the story and it gets popular enough...just wanted to let you guys know._

_Oh, and I'll be introducing another main character in this story...don't expect her to be girly like Lucy...she's basically her polar opposite in fact...so keep that in mind, will you? She'll be getting her starter Pokemon shortly..._

**Chapter 2: Starter Pokemon**

When Lucy woke up, she expected it to be the sound of her alarm clock...which thankfully she had not destroyed during one of her wild dreams of being a Pokemon Trainer.

Instead, it was the sound of her mother's screaming.

Curious, she decided to leave her bedroom to see what was going on, even though she was still in her pink pajamas.

As it turned out, there was a wild Pokemon wreaking havoc in her own home. She promptly dropped her jaw in shock.

"How did it get past our security systems?!" exclaimed her mother.

"It must have been pretty smart if it found a way to disable them..." noted her father.

Curious, she decided to take a closer look...and noticed that the wild Pokemon in question was a Clefairy. Could it have anything to do with that shooting star she saw last night? She heard that for some strange reason, sightings of Clefairy typically increased whenever one of them appeared in the sky.

As it turned out, the wild Clefairy appeared to be collecting things...unfortunately, it was being rather messy about it. Plates had been smashed, food had fallen on the floor, and even a few chairs had been turned over.

Yet for some strange reason, Lucy found the havoc the wild Pokemon was causing to be hilarious. She suddenly collapsed on the floor and started laughing.

Curious, her parents decided to walk over to her to see if she was alright. Oddly enough, the wild Clefairy stopped the havoc she was causing to see what was going on.

"What's so funny?" inquired Lucy's father.

"It's the mess the Clefairy is making...for some strange reason, I just can't help but laugh!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Well, admittedly, part of me is finding this to be ridiculous myself...but we're still calling Pokemon control!" answered Lucy's mother.

The wild Clefairy promptly whimpered. She in fact had not meant to cause trouble...though admittedly she had made quite a mess in her searching for supplies to repair her spaceship with.

"Aww..." murmured the disappointed Pokemon trainer in the making.

Lucy was fairly upset. She couldn't believe that her parents were actually going to lock the cute-looking wild Pokemon away. It even bore a resemblance to her to an extent, considering the fact that a few of her acquaintances told her how adorable she looked.

There had to be something to do, but what?

Suddenly, she got an idea.

"Wait mom! I know what to do with the wild Pokemon!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What do you propose, honey?" inquired Lucy's mother.

"I was thinking maybe it could be my starter." inquired the future Pokemon trainer.

"What?!" Lucy's parents both exclaimed.

"I figure that if I manage to catch the wild Pokemon, it'll be out of your way...and I'll have a buddy to head to the Pokemon League with." explained Lucy.

"Well, you have a good point there...but you do realize that it's going to be incredibly destructive, am I right?" inquired Lucy's father.

"Funny, I also seem to recall your Growlithe acting much the same way when you started off being a Pokemon Trainer...you said that it eventually stopped misbehaving and started listening to your commands, am I right?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's father sighed.

"You make a good point, and I'm convinced. But you'll need to take care of it and make sure it doesn't get into trouble, do I understand?" he inquired.

"Yes, we're clear." answered the Pokemon trainer in the making.

"Well then, toss this Pokeball at the wild Pokemon for me then, will you? This is going to be a pretty important skill for you to learn in the near future." explained Lucy's father.

Lucy nodded, and flung the Pokeball as hard as she could.

This worked surprisingly well. Though the wild Clefairy was rather surprised at the projectile being flung towards her, it did not put up much of a struggle and was caught rather easily.

"Gotcha!" squealed Lucy.

"Very good. Now keep in mind that what you just saw was a fluke. Usually in order to capture a Pokemon you're going to have to weaken it first." explained Lucy's father.

"Got it." nodded the female Pokemon trainer in the making.

"Good. Now, I want you to get ready to go get your Pokemon license. Everyone knows that you won't be able to become a Pokemon trainer without one." explained Lucy's dad.

"Right, of course!" answered Lucy as she went to get dressed.

Sure enough, Lucy changed out of her pajamas and changed into something more practical for travel...she chose to dress in a pink shirt and a pink skirt, since pink was her favorite color.

"Alright!" cheered the future Pokemon trainer.

But as it turns out, Lucy's mother had a checklist for her to complete before she drove her to the Pokemon license station.

"Oh, right...how could I have forgotten about that? Thanks, mom!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unsurprisingly, one of the tasks on the list was to brush her teeth, as well as her hair. After all, the other Pokemon trainers wouldn't be impressed if she didn't look too good.

But as soon as she stepped into the bathroom, something unexpected happened.

"What the-" Lucy exclaimed.

As it turns out, her Clefairy had managed to escape from her Pokeball, and was now standing in the bathroom with her.

"How'd you get out of there?" she inquired.

Her Clefairy promptly tapped on her own head.

"You used your brain? That's good...now if you excuse me, I need to get ready." said Lucy as she started brushing her teeth.

For some strange reason, her Clefairy crawled onto the sink and started doing the exact same thing.

"What the-you want to brush your teeth too? But you're a Pokemon..." inquired Lucy. For a Pokemon that had only stopped being wild a few minutes ago, her Clefairy seemed rather intelligent.

Suddenly, her Pokemon alarm clock went off.

"Oh that's right...I got woken up ahead of schedule because of the chaos you were making...well, off to turn it off I go." said Lucy.

But much to her surprise, she didn't have to lift a finger, as her Clefairy promptly walked out of the bathroom and turned it off by herself.

Her new Clefairy promptly smiled. Was she actually trying to make up for the havoc she had caused in her estate?

"You're really impressing me." noted the Pokemon trainer. "Well, back to the Pokeball you go."

Lucy's Clefairy shook her head.

"What's that? You don't want to go back in there? But I heard that they're so comfortable..." said Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy still shook her head.

"I guess they're not for every Pokemon, then. But I'm not sure how I'm going to travel with you then...you're a bit too big to travel on my head, unfortunately..." noted Lucy.

The Fairy Pokemon nodded, though she wasn't sure how about that question herself. However, she quickly came up to a solution.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the Fairy Pokemon.

"What? You want to ride around on my back...well, only if you aren't too heavy for me..." said Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded and attached herself to Lucy as if she were a Pokemon backpack...which she might be mistaken for in the future considering how popular they were nowadays.

Fortunately, as it turns out, the Clefairy was not too heavy for Lucy to lift on her back. She in fact felt rather soft.

"This feels surprisingly good. I think this was a good idea!" cheered the unofficial female Pokemon trainer.

After doing a few more tasks that her mother had requested for her, Lucy was eventually ready to become a Pokemon trainer.

"Good job! Off to get a Pokemon license you go!" exclaimed Lucy's mother.

"Hooray!" cheered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" squealed her Clefairy.

_Meanwhile..._

"Alright, this should be our location. Now the only thing left to do is grab the girl and deliver her to my boss." thought Jake.

Suddenly, his Grimer oozed out of his Pokeball.

"Grimer!" squealed his Pokemon.

"Um, buddy...we're supposed to be keep quiet here. If her parents find out that I'm trying to abduct her daughter, they're going to flip!" explained Jake.

Jake's Grimer frowned as he slithered back into his Pokeball.

"Grimer..." he murmured sadly.

"Sorry, buddy. Maybe some other time." said Jake.

Out of nowhere, the Team Rocket Grunt then remembered that his Grimer was able to slide through doors and through windows due to the fact that he was made of ooze, and decided that maybe he could use him as a scout.

"Actually, on second thought, I think I know what to do with you now." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Grimer promptly slithered out of his Pokeball with a smile on his face.

"Grimer!" cheered the sludge pokemon.

"Why don't you do me a favor and see if you can find any information I could use? Preferably where exactly in the house my target is...just make sure not to be seen, will you? If her parents find out that Team Rocket is after her daughter...well, they're probably going to call Officer Jenny...and we don't want that, now do we?" inquired Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded. He too had heard the stories of Team Rocket Grunts that had gotten careless and had ended up in the custody of Officer Jenny to stand trial for their crimes against Pokemon...and to a lesser extent Pokemon Trainers.

He also heard that their Pokemon were usually confiscated from them and their licenses taken away...and they were then donated to other Pokemon trainers. Jake's Grimer did not look forward to being separated from his long-term companion, and wanted to make sure that they stayed together for as long as they possibly could. He gave Jake a wave goodbye as he went to enter the house.

Suddenly, he noticed that for some strange reason, his target appeared to be leaving her house using a limousine...which oddly enough his boss also had, though his was black and had a red R on it instead of simply being white. Where was she going?

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to try to follow her...but where could she possibly be headed?" inquired Jake.

"Yes! Today's the day I'm finally going to get my Pokemon license!" cheered Lucy.

"That it is. Just try to calm down, sweetie. I know you're excited, but you need to stay focused." explained Lucy's mother.

"Sorry! It's hard for me to resist!" apologized the soon-to-be-licensed Pokemon trainer.

All of a sudden, Jake realized where she was headed. She was going to get a Pokemon license so that she become a Pokemon trainer and head into the great beyond. He in fact had remembered doing so when he wanted to head to the Pokemon League...but since his father told him that the prize for winning the league was just an empty cup, he ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it.

He personally thought it was a shame, considering how much he enjoyed getting his first Pokemon...which he had found in the trash can outside his home.

Of course, once she actually got the Pokemon license, his task would be a whole lot harder, since undoubtedly she would then start travelling all across Kanto gathering gym badges for the Pokemon League.

Suffice to say, he had to hurry if he wanted a good opportunity to catch her.

"Well, off to the Pokemon license station I go then!" exclaimed Jake as he headed towards his new destination.

_Meanwhile..._

Chris Himura could not wait to finally begin her Pokemon journey. Compared to other Pokemon trainers, she had done so rather late...as she was beginning her journey at the age of 13.

She would have gotten her Pokemon license earlier, but her parents told her that it was a dangerous world and that a girl like her should stay at home. She was really sick of it.

And for some strange reason, they insisted on calling her Christine, though she found her name to be too girly and wanted them to simply call her Chris. She was so frustrated.

They also insisted that she should try wearing a dress...but she hated wearing them. She instead chose to wear a black shirt with a skull on it along with some black shorts to wear on her Pokemon adventure.

All she wanted was to be the very best Pokemon trainer that there ever was. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was for her parents. Why didn't they let her have some freedom?

Her parents had told her that Professor Oak was giving away three different types of Pokemon to different trainers depending on their preference, but she knew that they were all low-leveled, and she wanted a Pokemon that was stronger than that.

So instead, she decided to drive her bike to an area that was known to be full of high-level Pokemon...an area that only experienced Pokemon trainers should even consider paying a visit.

Her parents had unfortunately given her a girly-looking bike...even though she insisted on getting a motorcycle. Once again, they thought just because she was a girl that she was girly. Of course, they had also insisted that she bring a companion along with her so that she would be safe...but she wanted to go on her journey solo.

But she had never really been a person to pay attention to warnings...and although she didn't actually have a Pokemon yet, she decided to enter anyway.

"Oh please...a bunch of high-level Pokemon never scared me." she thought.

She decided to sit on a stump and wait for one of them to show up. Surely one of them would...or were they all frightened of her?

Sure enough, a wild Pokemon did arrive...though it was far from what she was expecting.

"A Jigglypuff? You've got to be kidding me." thought Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the wild balloon pokemon.

Immediately, the wild Jigglypuff began to sing a lullaby, a lullaby that would make most Pokemon trainers and their Pokemon fall asleep.

But as it turned out, Chris was not an ordinary Pokemon trainer. She in fact had an extreme amount of willpower and thus would not fall victim to the song so easily. In fact, the lullaby did not make her feel sleepy at all.

Her response was rather sarcastic.

"Really? You thought that a simple song could make fall asleep? You're really going to have to do better than that." answered Chris.

Much to her surprise, the wild Jigglypuff seemed rather excited that the Pokemon trainer had not taken a snooze. In fact, she appeared to be celebrating.

"Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff!" squealed the wild Jigglypuff, who at this point was jumping up and down.

She had finally found someone that would actually pay attention to her singing and not take a nap. She couldn't believe it!

"What are you so happy about?" inquired the not-so-girly future Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, the wild Jigglypuff latched onto her leg. Apparently, she wanted her to be her Pokemon trainer.

"You want me to be your Pokemon trainer...you've got to be freaking kidding me. I came here looking for a Pokemon that was an absolute beast...and instead I got a balloon! And they say this area is dangerous..." said Chris.

The wild Jigglypuff frowned. She was really hoping that she would end up being chosen as a starter Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff..." complained the Jigglypuff.

Becoming desperate, she refused to let go of Chris's leg.

"What the-are you a Paras or something?" inquired the Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately, with the Jigglypuff attached to her, she suddenly found it hard for her to get around.

"Would you kindly get off me?" demanded Chris.

"Jigglypuff..." whimpered the balloon. She looked at the girl using its adorable eyes.

"What's this? It appears you're trying to use your eyes to gather sympathy...well, guess what! It's not going to work on me! Don't waste your time!" exclaimed the future Pokemon trainer.

The wild Jigglypuff whimpered and let go of her leg.

"That's better. Now run along! Sheesh, what's a Pokemon like you doing in a place like this anyway..." exclaimed Chris.

Jigglypuff walked away sadly. She had finally found someone that would listen to her sing, and yet she didn't want anything to do with the poor balloon Pokemon.

"Now then...let's keep looking for a strong Pokemon..." she said to herself.

Unfortunately, she did not pay attention to where she was going...and she ended up bumping into a wild Tauros.

The Tauros in question was not amused. Chris immediately became nervous.

"Um, you don't mind that I've entered your territory, now do you? I mean, it's so big and all. I'm sure there's enough room for the two of us...heh heh." inquired the girl in danger.

The Tauros promptly began to scrape his leg against the ground.

"I'll take that as a yes!" exclaimed Chris as she began to run away.

Unsurprisingly, the wild Tauros began to charge after her.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about heading here..." thought Chris. "Is this the end for me or something? I was personally hoping that I'd live a little longer..."

Fortunately for the unfortunate future Pokemon trainer, the wild Jigglypuff she had encountered earlier noticed what was happening, and decided that she should come to her defense.

Immediately, she began to sing one of her songs.

All of a sudden, the Tauros began to feel really, really, really sleepy...and eventually, it collapsed to the ground. Chris suddenly stopped running and looked at the Tauros in surprise.

The wild Jigglypuff in question was not amused, and started drawing a moustache on the wild bull Pokemon's face.

For some strange reason, Chris could not help but laugh. All of a sudden, she decided that maybe she was wrong about the wild JIgglypuff.

"I don't believe it...you actually took out a wild Tauros...maybe I was wrong about you..." noted the tomboy as she picked up the balloon pokemon.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the wild Jigglypuff.

Apparently, today was going to be the best day of her life. At long last, she had found somebody to her Pokemon trainer...and as an added bonus, she would not fall asleep from her songs.

"Just don't expect me to capture any more cute Pokemon in the future, OK? I'm trying to create a strong Pokemon team..." said the teenager.

The Jigglypuff nodded her head as Chris caught her in her Pokeball.

"Sheesh...I never really expected a Jigglypuff to be my starter Pokemon...but she seems strong enough. Besides, she actually made me laugh...more than I can say about my parents." thought the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

She decided to set forth to find stronger Pokemon...unaware in the process that despite her wishes she would end up traveling with another Pokemon trainer on her journey in the near future.

_Well, I've introduced my third main character in this story...what do you think of her? Do you think she's a jerk? Do you think she's awesome? Do you think her name is funny?_

_And yes, Jake's starter pokemon is a Grimer...I figured that it would suit him...just like I figured a Clefairy would suit Lucy._

_And yes, I had a little fun with choosing a Jigglypuff for Chris...of course, you'd be surprised how aggressive its evolution can be...and a JIgglypuff itself has a short temper too...so go figure._

_Anyways, in the next chapter, we're going to see the last main character in my little story...and unfortunately, Jake is going to try to kidnap Lucy...though he'll fail miserably._

_So I'll see you later!_


	3. Chapter 3: Introductions

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, we're going to be meeting our last main protagonist...he's in fact going to be partnered with Chris, whether he likes it or not...he's also going to be very different from her, as you'll find out shortly._

_Also, Jake is going to be up to no good...is he successfully going to capture Lucy? Or he is going to abort the mission? Let's find out...though in retrospect you're probably hoping for the latter...heh heh._

**Chapter 3: Introductions**

Lucy was very happy that she would finally get the opportunity to get her very own Pokemon license. She had been waiting for it for eleven years, and today was finally her big day.

Her mother was currently discussing it with the Pokemon licenser, who as it turns out wanted a small amount of Pokedollars in exchange for the license.

Suddenly, she noticed that there seemed to be a strange car approaching the license station. Curious, she decided to go outside to get a closer look.

Oddly enough, the driver seemed to be waiting for her.

"Hey there! How would you like to go for a ride with me?" inquired Jake.

Normally, Jake would not be old enough to drive a car...but since he was the shadier side of the law (and of course a Team Rocket member), Giovanni had entrusted him with one anyways.

"Aren't you a little young to be driving a car?" inquired Lucy.

"I know, I know...but think of all the places I can take you!" exclaimed the Rocket Grunt.

"Like...what?" inquired the preteen girl.

Curious, she noticed that the car was black and had a red R on it. She immediately got suspicious.

"Why does your car have a red R on it?" asked the preteen.

Suddenly, she noticed that her Clefairy was pulling her leg. Apparently, the fairy pokemon did not look forward to hitchhiking.

"Clefairy!" she exclaimed. She had a bad feeling about the guy that was trying to take her on a car ride.

"Sorry...but I don't think my Pokemon wants to go on a ride with you...and I've got to respect her wishes." said Lucy.

"Fine..." answered Jake, rather upset that his plan had been thwarted.

Lucy promptly reentered the Pokemon license station...just as her mother stepped out of the licenser's office.

"Did he say I could have one?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes...you're just gong to have to go through a few steps first...by the way, shouldn't you be keeping your Clefairy in your Pokeball?" inquired her mother.

"She told me that she didn't want to go in there..." said Lucy.

Her Clefairy promptly nodded.

"Well, she's going to have to stand outside...it says on that sign over there Pokemon aren't allowed inside the building." explained Lucy's mother.

Lucy looked around, and noticed that there was in fact a sign saying that Pokemon were not allowed inside the building, unless of course they were in a Pokeball.

"Oh, right...how could I have not noticed that? I feel silly..." answered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded as she walked outside the building.

"Now then...let's get your license, shall we?" inquired Lucy's mother.

Lucy nodded as she stepped inside the licenser's office.

First, the future Pokemon trainer had to get her picture taken so that it could be displayed on her Pokemon license.

Second, she had to watch a video explaining what Pokemon were and what they could be used for...curiously enough, Professor Oak was in fact narrating the video.

Finally, she had to sign a contract detailing the rules she would have to follow if she wanted to keep the license, such as treating Pokemon with respect and not stealing Pokemon from other Pokemon trainers.

"So, let me get this straight...I'll have to follow the rules if I want to keep the Pokemon license?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, the punishment in question would depend on what rule you actually broke...since some of them are more serious than others...but yes, you should follow these if you want to keep your license." answered the licenser.

"OK then." answered the future Pokemon trainer as she signed the contract.

"Very good. Here is your license...just make sure to write your name so that everyone knows who you are." said the licenser as she handed Lucy her Pokemon license.

She promptly raised her hands in the air. She was now an official Pokemon trainer!

Also, according to the picture on her license, she was still a redhead just like her father...and she still looked cute.

"Looking good!" she thought.

Suffice to say, Lucy's mother was very happy for her.

"So my little angel...did you get your license?" inquired Lucy's mother.

"Yes, I did." answered Lucy. "Now I can finally become a Pokemon trainer!"

"Mm-hmm...but before you do, we need to head home. It's your birthday, don't you remember?" inquired Lucy's mother.

"Oh, right...heh heh heh." answered Lucy. She in fact had almost forgotten about that in all the excitement of becoming a Pokemon trainer.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy's father was rather pleased for himself. Thanks to one of his bakers and a few members of his family, his daughter would certainly have a good birthday. He in fact had made sure that it was her favorite flavor...and that the presents were all things that she would enjoy.

Of course, the presents would not be as decent overall as the Pokemon license she had received. He had noted that he had allowed her to get a Pokemon license a year later than most Pokemon trainers...but considering how much work he had to put into becoming what he was today, he figured that it wouldn't hurt if she was a bit older before going to out to collect gym badges.

But there was just one problem with his daughter's birthday party...there was a really strange odor around the mansion lately. And to make matters worse, he wasn't exactly sure where it was coming from.

He had in one point noted that there seemed to be a strange purple goo dripping from his air vents, and wondered if he should have one of his staff members investigate it.

His Arcanine himself had it worse than he did...considering the legendary Pokemon's sense of smell was far stronger than his was. In fact, he had spent much of his day lying down and whimpering.

"It's OK, we're going to get this checked out soon, I promise." answered Lucy's father.

Unbeknowst to the two of them, the odor in question was from a spy...in this case, it was Jake's Grimer.

He in fact had gotten a lot of information in the short amount of time he had visited the house. Thanks to his hiding spot, none of the members were aware of his presence (though they were aware of his smell), and he had already figured out a lot of information about his Pokemon trainer's target.

For example, he knew the names of her parents (which were Linda and Barry, respectively), knew that she had a sweet tooth (which is why her father had set up a few sweets for her aside from her birthday cake), and above all else, loved virtually every Pokemon there was in existence, even Grimers like himself.

At this point, he decided that it was best to return to his master and give him the information he uncovered. For some strange reason, he always knew what he was trying to tell him...even though he could only say the name of his own race.

He promptly slithered into the mansion's plumbing system so that he could step outside and locate his master.

_Now let's check on Chris..._

Chris was rather happy that she finally had a Pokemon she could use to fight with other Pokemon trainers with, though it hadn't been her first choice in question.

"Finally...now I can go get some badges and enter the Pokemon league...shame that the tournament only occurs once a year...ah well." thought Chris.

Suddenly, another Pokemon trainer ran up to her. Curious, she stepped off her bike. She immediately noticed that he was dressed in a white labcoat, and was wearing glasses. Also, he was a blond, which she found to be a bit ironic considering that she was a brunette.

"Hey there nerd...are you looking for a Pokemon battle or something? Because I'm looking forward to one!" exclaimed Chris.

The Pokemon trainer in question frowned. People always seemed to call that...well either that or a geek. Or on some occasions a dork. Generally, people didn't seem to think much of him.

"What is your name, anyway?" inquired Chris.

"My name's Ned...Ned Kagome..." answered the dorky Pokemon trainer.

Chris promptly chuckled.

"Your name's Ned? That's nerd without an R...ha ha ha ha! Anyways, my name's Chris..." laughed the ungirly Pokemon trainer.

"Very funny...wait, isn't that a boy's name?" inquired Ned.

"My full name's actually Christine...but since I hated being called that...I decided to abbreviate it." answered Chris.

"Very funny...anyways, can you help me with something?" inquired Ned.

"Like...what?" asked Chris.

"I'm looking for my Eevee...he wandered off and now I can't seem to find him..." explained the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"You really should take better care of him then." answered the tomboy.

Ned sighed.

"I know...but I'd really appreciate it if you helped me find him!" answered the nerd.

"Sheesh...I came here looking for Pokemon trainers to fight...and instead I found someone that can't keep track out of his own Pokemon." noted Chris.

Unbeknowst to the two Pokemon trainers, Ned's Eevee had spotted Chris' bike...and was wondering if he should try giving it a ride. It sure sounded like fun.

"Do you really have to keep telling me to keep looking after my own Pokemon?" inquired Ned.

"Can't you just keep him in a Pokeball? That's what I do with my new Jigglypuff." asked Chris.

"I tried that...but guess what? He found out how to get out of his own Pokeball on his own! I wonder how he does that..." said Ned.

"All the more reason you should have kept an eye on him then." noted the tomboy.

"Oh c'mon!" exclaimed the nerd.

Suddenly, they both noticed that Chris's bicycle appeared to be moving on its own.

"What the-" said Chris.

Curious, Ned noticed that his Eevee had snuck onto the bicycle while they were arguing with each other, and was trying to ride it himself.

"Uh-oh..." he thought.

Unfortunately, he in fact had no idea how to operate it, and it was going down a pretty deep slope.

Luckily, Ned's Eevee was smart enough to jump off the bicycle before it picked up too much momentum...unluckily for Chris, her bike kept on going and going...until it crashed into a nearby rock.

"My bike!" exclaimed Chris.

Sadly, her bike had been completely totaled by the crash...and she would not longer to be able to ride around on it to get where she needed to go.

An animesque anger mark promptly appeared on her head.

"Look...what you did!" screamed the unfortunate Pokemon trainer.

"Please forgive me! I didn't mean for this to happen, I swear!" apologized Ned.

"I hope you are sorry! Do you know how much bikes cost in Kanto?!" questioned Chris.

"A million dollars?" answered the nerd sheepishly.

"Uh-huh! I'm personally surprised people can actually afford them! Anyways, I'm not going to leave you alone until you get me another one!" screamed the female Pokemon trainer.

"You're going to hunt me down...even to the ends of the earth?" inquired Ned nervously.

Chris nodded.

Ned promptly began to drop to his knees and cry.

The tomboyish Pokemon trainer promptly facepalmed.

She then remembered what she was looking forward to doing, and she got an idea.

"I suppose it would help if you challenged me to a Pokemon battle..." said Chris.

"It would?" inquired Ned, who suddenly stopped crying.

"Mm-hmm..now hurry up and get your Eevee!" exclaimed Chris.

"Yes, ma'am!" nodded Ned.

Fortunately for Ned, since his Eevee had finally revealed himself, it was not hard for him to pick up the evolution Pokemon and bring him near Chris.

"There we go...now then...Jigglypuff, let's go faint some Pokemon!" exclaimed Chris as she hurled Jigglypuff's Pokeball.

Sure enough, her Jigglypuff was converted from energy back into matter.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the balloon Pokemon.

"Aren't you going to say, I choose you?" inquired Ned.

"Isn't it obvious?" answered Chris.

"Well, I'm still going to say it. Eevee, I choose you!" exclaimed Ned.

"Your Eevee's already out of its Pokeball." answered the tomboy.

Ned sweatdropped.

"Anyways, let's get it on!" exclaimed Chris.

"Right..." answered the nerd.

_Now let's head back to Lucy..._

Though she could not wait to set forth on a Pokemon journey, Lucy enjoyed her birthday party very much. Her cake was delicious, her birthday presents were awesome, and best of all, both of her parents were there to wish her happy birthday.

Personally, Lucy's father was glad that the strange smell that was in the mansion earlier today had disappeared. He was starting to get worried about his Arcanine, seeing though he couldn't tolerate the smell, and he had also been considering sending someone to investigate.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, a few of his wife's flowers had wilted.

"What happened?" inquired Lucy's mother.

"We're sorry! We don't know what happened, ma'am!" answered the gardener.

"Did you give it water?" she asked.

"Yes we did...oddly enough there seems to be a bit of purple goo on it...I don't know how it got there, ma'am." answered the man.

"That is weird...just try to take better care of them in the near future." answered Lucy's mother.

The gardener nodded.

Fortunately, aside from the aforementioned herbicide, nothing went wrong in the household, and Lucy had a pretty good birthday.

"Today has been absolutely awesome...though I wonder who that strange guy in that car was..." she thought.

_Meanwhile, outside the mansion..._

Jake was simply not able to come up with an efficient plan to capture Lucy, even though his Grimer had returned to him and told him pretty much everything she had to know about it.

Knowing that Lucy had a sweet tooth, he had tried luring her out using a bag of candy and scattering it in a trail so that she'd end up in a pitfall...but unfortunately his Grimer had fallen for the trap instead.

"What were you thinking?!" inquired Jake.

"Grimer..." apologized Jake's Grimer.

As for the rest of his ideas, he ultimately decided that they would not be effective. Why did Lucy have to be so well-protected?

Eventually, he realized that if he was going to capture Lucy, he was going to have to be pragmatic.

"I didn't want to resort to this...but I suppose I have no choice..." said Jake as he pulled out a baseball bat and a bag.

Jake's Grimer promptly whimpered.

"Yes, I know...this is going to be messy." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

As it turned out, Lucy's parents were saying their goodbyes to Lucy. Hopefully she would do well in the Pokemon League.

"Goodbye!" exclaimed Lucy's mother.

"Have a nice trip!" cheered on Lucy's father.

"I will!" answered Lucy as she left the mansion along with her Clefairy.

Curiously enough, this reminded Lucy's father of the day she went out on a Pokemon journey...this was in fact how he had met his wife. They in fact had gone on on their Pokemon journey together...basically, they were a tag team.

Of course, since then, he had been working as one of the managers for Silph Co...after all, they did manufacture many different things for Pokemon use. He was personally surprised how fast he rose in the ranks...or was it just his imagination?

He personally wondered if Lucy would end up finding an adventuring companion to go with her as well.

However, as it turns out, Lucy's Clefairy had one thing to show her before she set forth on a Pokemon journey.

"Where are you taking me?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"What? You want to show me something?" inquired the Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded.

As it turned out, it was none other than her spaceship...which unfortunately was still in bad shape.

"What the-you have a spaceship? Are you a space alien or something?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy.

"What? You're from the moon? Funny...now that you said that part of me wants to go there as well." said the Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy then explained to Lucy that due to her carelessness, the spaceship had unfortunately been damaged horribly, and that she would need some supplies so that it would be able to zoom into space again.

"Oh dear...so you want me to help you get back home?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded, though admittedly many members of her race enjoyed living on Earth, and wondered if she should remain with Lucy.

She then remembered that Lucy was interested in heading into space, and decided to cut her a deal.

"Clefairy fairy." said Lucy's Clefairy.

"You're saying that if I help you repair your spaceship, you'll let me go on a ride with you?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded.

"Sounds like a fair deal...so, when should we start?" asked the Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"After we're done with the Indigo League Conference? That's awfully generous of you..." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy then explained that she in fact wasn't in a hurry to leave and that she in fact enjoyed being on Earth, and that she wanted to do Lucy a favor for accepting her as her starter Pokemon.

"Oh...well then...I guess we should get going then." said Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded.

Unbeknowst to Lucy, a certain Team Rocket Grunt was slowly creeping up on her.

"Alright...it's now or never..." he thought as he held the baseball bat.

However, the more he thought about it...the more guilty he felt about trying to hold her for ransom. Was being part of Team Rocket really worth it? All they ever did all day was try to make money...

His father had once told him that the world was very dark and cruel...but did he have to contribute to it being so dark and cruel? Now that he thought of it...was the world really as horrible as his father had said? Because his target seemed to enjoy living in it...judging from the fact that she usually had a smile on her face.

Eventually, he found himself unable to abduct Lucy, and he dropped the baseball bat on the floor.

"Oh, who am I kidding! I'm just not cut out for this! I guess I'm going to have to tell Giovanni that I'm just not that kind of person..." murmured Jake.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake nearly jumped out of his uniform in surprise.

"Um, hi?" inquired Jake.

"Didn't I see you driving a car earlier?" asked Lucy.

"Er, yeah...that was me..." answered the Team Rocket grunt.

"You really shouldn't drive a car without a license...it's dangerous, you know." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Er, yeah..." answered Jake nervously.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be a Pokemon trainer, now would you? I heard that Pokemon trainers battle each other, all the time?" inquired Lucy.

"Er, yeah...I'm a Pokemon trainer." nodded the Team Rocket grunt. Why did he have to allow himself to be discovered?

"My name is Lucy...what's yours?" asked Lucy.

"Er, it's Jake..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Nice to meet you!" exclaimed Lucy, shaking his hand.

"Er, nice to meet you too." answered Jake.

Suddenly, his Grimer once again slithered out of his Pokeball. Apparently, he wanted to introduce himself to Lucy's starter Pokemon too.

Although Lucy's Clefairy got the feeling that Jake was hiding something from Lucy, she decided to shake hands with Jake's Grimer as well. However, as she found out, he was rather messy. She promptly went into her spaceship to get some napkins.

"So, have you participated in a Pokemon battle before? Because I haven't yet..." said Lucy.

"No, I haven't." answered Jake.

"Well then...you want to give it a try?" inquired Lucy.

"Sure...I guess...Grimer, you ready?" nodded Jake nervously.

Jake's Grimer nodded.

"Alright then...Clefairy, let's go!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy and Jake's Grimer both entered fighting positions.

"What am I getting myself into?" thought Jake as the battle commenced.

_Guess what? It's cliffhanger time! Who do you think are going to win these two Pokemon battles? And what do you think of my last main character for this story?_

_Also, in case you haven't noticed, I decided to give each of the main characters different hair colors...I mentioned earlier that Lucy was a redhead, Ned was a blonde, and Chris was a brunette...though you shouldn't be assuming that I'll be using stereotypes for them...hair colors don't define a person, you know._

_Anyways, can you guess what hair color Jake is?_

_Guess what? His hair is green! Heh heh heh. Yes, for some strange reason, Pokemon trainers can have green hair...and Jake is no exception..._

_Anyways, in the next chapter, we'll finally be having some Pokemon battles...sound good?_


	4. Chapter 4: First Pokemon Battles

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to have their first Pokemon battles...two of them are going to win...while two of them are going to lose..._

_Can you guess who are going to be winners and who are going to be losers? Let's find out...and yes, I did do the research on what Pokemon can do what at an early level...excluding TMs of course...though I'll likely make our heroes' Pokemon learn TMS eventually...that'd be awesome, right?_

**Chapter 4: First Pokemon Battles**

Lucy's Clefairy was the one that went first.

"Clefairy, use Pound!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, she pounded into Grimer, causing him to collapse into a puddle of goo.

"Alright! First strike!" cheered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy smiled.

However, as it turned out, Jake's Grimer was not down for the count. And Jake was ready to prepare a counterattack.

"Grimer, give the Clefairy a Pound of your own, why don't you? Give her some payback." inquired Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded, and hit Clefairy in retaliation. Though he was made of sludge, it was still rather effective, and Lucy's Clefairy collapsed on the floor. Fortunately, she got back up again.

"Clefairy, use Growl!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy did as she was asked, causing Jake's Grimer to start to feel uneasy. Should he attack a Pokemon that was growling so fiercely at him?

"Don't let that Clefairy scare you...try hardening yourself!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Grimer did as he was told. All of a sudden, he became less gooey than usual.

"Well then, this should help make up for the loss of Attack my Grimer suffered...hopefully at least." thought Jake.

"Try Pounding it again!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy tried pounding Grimer once more, but as it turned out, this wasn't as effective now that he had turned solid. This time, he did not collapse into a pile of goo.

"Clefairy..." worried Lucy's Clefairy.

"Very good! You didn't collapse this time. Now let's try poisoning your foe with that Poison Gas of yours." explained Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded and bombared Lucy's Clefairy with its poison gas. Though the attack was normally inaccurate, it nonetheless struck the unfortunate Fairy Pokemon...and all of a sudden, it began to feel very woozy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy in concern.

"Clefairy..." murmured Clefairy. All of a sudden, she began to feel rather weak.

"Now's your chance! Use Pound again!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded and gave Lucy's Clefairy another Pound. And this time, it was a critical hit.

Unfortunately for Lucy, this was all her Clefairy could take. It promptly collapsed on the ground once more, but this time she did not get up. Her Clefairy had fainted. She had lost.

"Aww..." complained Lucy as she handed Jake some Pokedollars as a reward for his victory.

"Sorry that you lost your first Pokemon battle..." apologized Jake. To be honest to himself, he was rather surprised that he had won.

"It's OK...I'm sure that they'll be other Pokemon battles, right? And to be fair, I think my Clefairy did fairly well considering that it was her first time..." said Lucy.

"True..." nodded Jake. Personally, he was surprised how optimistic she was that she had lost her first Pokemon battle. If he had been in the same situation, he probably would have given up on being a Pokemon trainer right then and there.

"You did lose about a hundred Pokedollars though..." pointed out Jake.

"It's not like I really need to worry about losing money...to be honest, my parents gave me a lot of Pokedollars for my journey...you know how most Pokemon trainers start with three thousand Pokedollars? Well, they gave me ten thousand..." noted Lucy.

"Wow." noted Jake. He personally wished that he had that many Pokedollars...but he had sadly not been so fortunate.

"Say, you want to be my Pokemon partner? I heard that it's more fun to go on a Pokemon adventure with a friend than doing it solo..." noted Lucy.

"Um, sure..." said Jake. Ironically enough, his boss had insisted on him going alone. Speaking of which, should he inform Giovanni that he was going a Pokemon adventure with his own target? Nonetheless, for some strange reason, he couldn't resist the urge to become a Pokemon trainer himself.

"Sure, why not." answered Jake. He felt rather guilty about what he had tried to do earlier, and decided that maybe this would help make up for her.

"Good! Welcome aboard! Now then, let's head to Viridian City so that we can go to our first Gym!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Right...but we should probably find a Pokemon Center so that we can heal our Pokemon first...they're rather beat up." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded in agreement. Though he had won the battle, he was still rather woozy.

Fortunately, as it turned out, there was a makeshift Pokemon center inside her Clefairy's spaceship.

"Wow...where did you even find this?" inquired Jake.

"My Clefairy showed it to me." explained Lucy.

"I'm really impressed with it." noted the Team Rocket Grunt. He personally wondered if Giovanni would be interested in it...he always seemed so obsessed with money.

Using the improvised Pokemon Center inside the spaceship, Jake's Grimer and Lucy's Clefairy were quickly nursed back to health.

"What would we do without Pokemon centers like these?" inquired Lucy.

"I don't know...thank goodness they exist. They make Pokemon battling so much easier." nodded Jake.

"Well, off to Viridian City we go then." said the female Pokemon trainer.

"Mm-hmm." agreed Jake. Funny, didn't his boss own a gym there? Then again he never really seemed to use it much. Apparently, he only came out of hiding whenever there were strong Pokemon trainers around. He was the strongest Gym Leader in Kanto, after all.

Speaking of which, he began to worry about his criminal team. Would they be curious to where he had gone? Would Giovanni want a status report? Would he and his criminal organization hunt him down? These thoughts all plagued him as he set forth on his journey with Lucy.

_Now for the other Pokemon battle..._

As it turned out, Jake and Lucy were not the only ones that were having a Pokemon battle. Chris and Ned were also having a Pokemon battle...though this was more of an act of revenge than a test of skill between the two.

"Eevee, use Tackle!" exclaimed Ned.

Unfortunately, Ned's Eevee was not paying attention to him. He was busy licking his paws.

"Way to go. You just left yourself vulnerable. Jigglypuff, give him a Pound!" exclaimed Chris.

Jigglypuff promptly barged into Eevee, sending him flying a few feet. Thankfully for Ned, this caused him to regain his focus.

"Eevee, use Tail Whip!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded, and shook his tail at Chris's Jigglypuff. Apparently, she thought this was cute, because she began to lower her guard.

"What? Jigglypuff, he's trying to get you to let your guard down! Don't let him trick you! Try curling yourself up!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded as she curled herself up into a ball. Suffice to say, this undid the Tail Whip Ned did a few seconds ago.

"It looks like Tail Whip isn't going to work...try Tackling her!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Eevee paid attention to Ned this time, and tried to tackle Chris's Jigglypuff into the ground. Unfortunately, she moved out of the way, and his Eevee instead fell down on its face.

"Say, Jigglypuff, why don't you do the thing that you do best? I'm sure you've been dying to use it since you got into this Pokemon battle in the first place..." inquired Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and began to sing a lullaby.

"Eevee! No!" warned Ned.

But it was too late. Ned's Eevee had fallen asleep because of Jigglypuff's singing.

"Oh dear! He fell asleep right in front of your performance...not very nice, now is it? Why don't you teach him a lesson and Pound him into submission!" suggested Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded in agreement. She couldn't believe how rude the Eevee was. She pounded Ned's Eevee as hard as it could. When it still wouldn't wake up, she decided to do so again.

This time, Chris's Jigglypuff got a critical hit. Ned's Eevee was sent flying an even greater distance than it was earlier...And this time, he was down for the count.

Curious, Ned decided to give his Eevee a closer look...and discovered the familiar swirly look in a Pokemon's eyes whenever it fainted. He promptly sighed.

"If only he had paid attention to me the first time when I told him to tackle the Jigglypuff...and this was my first Pokemon battle, too!" noted Ned.

Chris must have noticed what had happened as well, because she immediately began to taunt Ned.

"What's that? Oh dear...it looks like you lost your first Pokemon battle...against a girl! What an embarrasment!" taunted Chris.

"What's so bad about that?" inquired Ned. Apparently he didn't understand stereotypes too well.

Chris sweatdropped.

"I was hoping that would agitate you...but I guess not. Now hand me some Pokedollars!" exclaimed Chris.

Ned nodded as he handed Chris some Pokedollars.

"This is a nice amount of money...but guess what? You've still got ninety-nine hundred thousand and nine hundred Pokedollars to go!" exclaimed Chris.

"Aww..." complained Ned.

"Now then...let's head to the nearest Pokemon center, shall we? Surely your Eevee could use another diaper." inquired the Pokemon trainer.

"But your Jigglypuff didn't even get hit...why do you need to go?" said Ned.

"You do realize that I'm still stalking you until you pay back your debt, am I right?" inquired Chris.

"Oh, right...how am I ever going to pay back my debt?" questioned Ned.

"I'm sure you'll think of something...you're the genius, not me." answered the tomboy.

"Um..." answered the sensitive Pokemon trainer. How exactly was he supposed to respond to that?

As they both headed to the Pokemon center, this question continued to linger in the back of his mind.

"At least I'll have someone to keep me company on my Pokemon adventure, I guess...and possibly for the rest of my life..." noted Ned as he walked with Chris.

_Meanwhile at Celadon City..._

Giovanni wondered what was taking his grunt so long. He had given him a car so that he could get to his target much faster, and yet he still seemed to be taking forever and a day. Which was a shame, considering how much he was looking forward to being a million Pokedollars richer.

What was he going to do? He unfortunately had not given his grunt anything he could use to contact him with, since he figured that he was going on a brief mission. This was something he was beginning to regret. For all he knew, his grunt probably ended up being captured by Officer Jenny...and he had lost enough of his men to her as it was.

"I hate her so much..." he thought. Why did she always have to stick her nose in his business? She was always so determined to get him arrested...though he personally doubted that she would ever catch him.

Suddenly, he considered the possibility of sending other Team Rocket Grunts to hunt him down. Maybe they would be able to find him. Maybe they would able to capture his target while she was at it. His million Pokedollars were overdue at this point.

But just who should he possibly send?

Suddenly, two of his grunts entered the room. One of them was male, while the other was female. They were holding a Pokemon in their hands...

"Hey boss! Look what we have!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"We finally captured a Pokemon!" squealed the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Ah, Jessie and James...you actually caught a Pokemon for me? Why do I find that hard to believe?" inquired Giovanni.

James promptly opened a Pokeball to reveal the Pokemon that they had caught. It wasn't very impressive.

As it turned out, the Pokemon they had captured in question was a simple Magikarp...which of course would not sell well.

"A Magikarp? Seriously? I thought I warned you not to buy anything from that obnoxious salesman..." noted Giovanni.

James chuckled nervously.

"He was...rather persuasive." noted James.

"Whatever! Anyways, I've got a favor for you to ask...though personally part of me wonders if you're actually going to complete it." said Giovanni.

"Do you want us to catch that twerp's Pikachu again?" inquired Jessie.

"No no no. Nothing like that this time. I want you to look for someone for me." explained Giovanni.

"You want us to look for someone?" asked James.

"That I do...you see, one of my Grunts has gone AWOL...so I need you to find him. And while you're at it, if you get the opportunity, I want you to snatch a girl for me..." explained Giovanni.

Immediately, he handed them a picture of Jake and Lucy.

"So, you want us to go after two kids, then? That's a change of pace." noted Jessie.

"Mm-hmm...while you're at it, why don't you bring that Meowth of yours with you to assist you with this task?" inquired Giovanni.

"Yes, of course! Wait, where is he, anyway?" inquired James, noticing that his feline companion was not currently with him.

Suddenly, the Meowth in question barged into the room.

"Sorry I'm late... I was taking a catnap..." explained Meowth.

For some strange reason, unlike most Pokemon, this Meowth was capable of speech.

"Mm-hmm...I'm assigning you on a mission with your old friends..." nodded Giovanni.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" cheered Meowth.

"Mm-hmm...anyways, now that you're all here...I want you all to head into your hot air balloon and get some binoculars...it should be easier for you to find them that way. Personally I doubt you'll succeed, but prove me wrong." answered Giovanni.

"You got it, boss!" exclaimed the trio as they left Giovanni's office.

Giovanni then let out a sigh.

"Why can't they be more like Butch and Cassidy? They always seem to get the job done right..." thought the ringleader of Team Rocket.

At least now he would be able to find his missing Team Rocket Grunt...hopefully, Jessie and James would be able to do so before the authorities arrived.

"The sooner I find him and the girl, the better. I want that million Pokedollars...and nothing is going to stop me." he said to himself.

_And we have our two winners and our two unfortunate losers...did you see them coming?_

_Uh-oh! It looks like Giovanni's sent two of his Grunts to hunt down Jake...though thankfully the ones he was sending after them are rather incompetent..._

_That's probably going to change in the near future though...you think that Jake and Lucy will be able to defend themselves?_

_And what do you think is going to happen to Chris and Ned? Ned still has that enormous debt to pay off...how is he ever going to get enough Pokedollars? Is Chris going to keep stalking him until the end of time?_

_I suppose you'll find out these questions eventually...but for now, I'll see you later!_


	5. Chapter 5: Catching Pokemon

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to capture some Pokemon..with the exception of Ned, since he needs to get his Eevee to the Pokemon Center...tough luck for him I guess._

_Don't worry, he'll get his own second Pokemon in due time...but for now, he's just going to have to stick to his Eevee..._

_Anyways, let's see what our three heroes catch, shall we? Of course, since I'm doing my best not to make them Mary Sues and Marty Stus respectively...they're not going to catch strong Pokemon right off the bat...of course, this doesn't mean they won't be able to catch strong Pokemon at all...since they need those for the Pokemon League._

_But for now, let's watch them catch some Com Mons...if you catch my drift. Can you guess which ones they're going to catch?_

**Chapter 5: Catching Pokemon**

Lucy and Jake both walked into the grasslands near Lucy's mansion, ready to capture a few Pokemon for their competitive battling.

"Let's see now...my parents gave me about ten Pokeballs...along with a spare Pokedex in case mine got broken or lost..." explained Lucy as she examined the supplies her parents gave her.

Sure enough, Lucy pulled out her Pokedex. Oddly enough, it was colored pink.

"You got ten Pokeballs? I heard that most Pokemon trainers only got five...and I didn't even get a Pokedex either..." noted Jake.

"Oh, you didn't? Alright then, you can have this one!" cheered Lucy as she handed him a Pokedex.

"What? That's awfully generous of you." noted Jake as he accepted it.

"Just because I'm rich doesn't mean I can't be generous, you know." noted Lucy.

"True..." thought Jake. Should he give the Pokedex to his boss? Maybe it would make up for him not succeeding in his mission to capture his target, which unfortunately he didn't have the guts for.

Oddly enough, the Pokedex he received in question was blue, which he felt to be rather ironic.

"Right...I wonder what it does..." questioned Jake.

"Oh that's simple...you can use it to scan Pokemon that you meet on your travels." explained Lucy.

"Really? I guess I'll test it on on your Clefairy then..." said the Team Rocket grunt.

Curious, he decided to give Lucy's Clefairy a scan. Sure enough, a masculine electronic voice came out of it.

"Clefairy, the Fairy Pokemon. Its magical and cute appeal has many admirers...but it is rare and is only found in certain areas." said the Pokedex.

"Sounds like you were lucky to get one as your first Pokemon then." noted Jake.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded in agreement, though oddly enough she knew a place where a large amount of them were gathered.

Jake then released his Grimer from his Pokeball to see what Lucy's Pokedex had to say about him. Oddly enough, this artificial voice was feminine in nature.

"Grimer, the Sludge Pokemon. It appears in filthy areas, and loves to eat sludge, particularly sludge that originates from factories." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"That explains why I found it eating out of a trash can." noted Jake.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer. For some strange reason, he found garbage to taste absolutely delightful. One man's trash was one Pokemon's treasure, apparently.

"Well, let's see if we can capture some Pokemon, shall we? I'm sure that there are some nearby." said Lucy.

"Should we split up?" inquired Jake.

"If you say so..." answered Lucy as she went to search for Pokemon.

Sure enough, he noticed that there appeared to be a Rattata nearby. It was busy nibbling on a tree with its fangs.

Curious, Jake decided to give the Rattata a scan.

"Rattata, the Mouse Pokemon. It will chew on anything with its fangs, and is very agile." explained the Pokedex.

Unfortunately for Jake, his Rattata could easily sniff out his Grimer, and he promptly ran away.

"I guess it really is evil..." thought Jake. "I guess Pokemon catching isn't going to be so easy..."

Returning his Grimer into his Pokeball so that he could remain undetected, he came up with a plan. Immediately, he reached into his bag and pulled out some food to lure the Rattata out of hiding.

Sure enough, the Rattata returned to eat the food that had been laid out for it.

"Rattata!" cheered the wild Rattata.

"Gotcha!" exclaimed Jake as he threw a Pokeball.

This worked surprisingly well. In just a few seconds, the Pokeball stopped shaking.

"Huh, I guess I didn't even need to attack it. Beginner's luck, I guess." noted Jake.

He decided to release it from its Pokeball a few seconds later so that it could introduce itself.

"Hi there buddy! Welcome to the party, I guess." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Rattata promptly dug into his bag for food.

"He must be really hungry." thought Jake.

It came out a few seconds later with some food in its mouth.

Curious, Jake decided to give the Rattata a closer scan...as it turned out, it was a male Rattata.

"That explains the longer whiskers and darker fur color..." noted Jake.

Jake's Rattata then stood on his hind legs, waiting for directions.

"I suppose you could help us find food, I guess. You seem like you're going to need a lot of it." ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

The Mouse Pokemon nodded, and he went to search for food.

"I'm starting to like being a Pokemon trainer." he thought.

Meanwhile, Lucy was searching for a second Pokemon of her own. Surely, there had to be one somewhere.

Suddenly, Lucy's Clefairy pointed out that there was a nest nearby. Maybe that would be a good place to look for Pokemon?

However, as she did so, she noticed that was a Pidgey standing outside the tree. Curious, she decided to give it a scan.

"Pidgey, the Tiny Bird Pokemon. Very docile, it will usually kick sand to defend itself rather than fight back." said the Pokedex.

As it turned out, the unfortunate Pidgey had apparently fallen out of its nest...and due to the fact that it couldn't fly too well yet, it was having a hard time getting back up.

"Pidgey!" cried out the unfortunate bird Pokemon.

Lucy decided to give the Pidgey a hand. She promptly picked it up and put it back inside its nest.

"There you go, little buddy!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Pidgey!" cheered the Pidgey. It was so nice to finally get to go back home.

Curious, she noticed that there seemed to be two other Pidgey already in the nest. They were busy squabbling with each other.

"Oh dear...they don't seem to get along with each other, now do they?" thought Lucy. Apparently, they had kicked their sister out.

Giving them all a scan, she discovered that the Pidgey she had placed back inside its nest was female, and that she had two brothers.

"Interesting..." thought Lucy.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed a Pokemon from behind.

Curious, she decided to look behind her, and promptly jumped. Apparently, this was their mother.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed the Pidgeot angrily. Apparently she thought that she was trying to hurt her young.

"Sorry, sorry!" apologized Lucy. "I wasn't trying to hurt your chicks, I swear! I just placed one of your young back into its nest..."

"Clefairy!" answered Lucy's Clefairy, defending her owner.

Curiously enough, the Pidgeot remembered that her two sons had fought over space in their nest earlier today, and decided that the Pokemon Trainer's story added up. She personally thought that she should have a talk with them later.

She also remembered that beginning Pokemon Trainers would often pay the route she and her children a visit in order to search for Pokemon to collect...and decided that her daughter would be in good hands.

Suddenly, the Pidgeot reached forward and grabbed her daughter out of her nest and handed her to Lucy.

"What? You're giving me your daughter to be my Pokemon? Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

Pulling out a Pokeball, she promptly sucked it inside.

"Guess it's my lucky day." thought Lucy as she obtained her second Pokemon.

The Pidgeot waved farewell to Lucy as she went back to tell Jake the good news.

Sure enough, he was standing there holding out the Pokeball for his own Pokemon.

"Guess what! I caught a Pokemon!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Good for you. I managed to catch one too...I had to use some of our supplies to lure it out though...so I'm having it get us some new ones." explained Jake.

"Oh...do you think he'll be back soon?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"He's pretty fast, so yes." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, his Rattata returned with an apple in his mouth.

"Rattata!" cheered Jake's Rattata.

"Very good." said the Team Rocket Grunt as his Rattata placed it into his bag.

"So...which Pokemon did you get?" inquired Jake.

Lucy promptly pulled out her Pokeball and released her Pidgey from her Pokeball.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Lucy's Pidgey.

"I see you got a Pidgey..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah...her mother was rather generous..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"So, should we head to Viridian City, now?" inquired Jake.

"Mm-hmm!" answered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed her Clefairy.

And the two Pokemon trainers continued headed to their destination.

_Now let's check on our other two protagonists..._

Ned was checking his map to see how long it would take to reach the nearest Pokemon center.

"According to this map, we should be there in just a few minutes." informed Ned.

"Good, because I don't want a long wait." answered Chris.

"By the way, my Dad got me a Pokedex...he said that I could use it to scan Pokemon to learn more information about them...he actually helped Professor Oak make one, in fact." explained the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"Really?" inquired Chris.

"Yeah...he also gave me a spare in case I lost mine..." noted Ned.

"Why would I want one of those? Those are for geeks..." inquired Chris.

"Well, they do have a learning guide for new Pokemon trainers detailing type advantages and catching Pokemon, if you're interested in that." explained the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Maybe I'll give it one look..." said Chris as Ned handed her a black Pokedex.

Gathering information, she discovered that it was easier to catch Pokemon if she tried putting a status ailment on them first.

"I assume this includes putting them to sleep?" thought Chris.

"Funny...I thought that Pokedexs only came in Red..." questioned the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Professor Oak started distributing them in different colors...mine's white." explained the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"Oh." answered Chris.

Curious, she decided to call out her Jigglypuff and give it a scan.

"Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokemon! It sings a song to make its enemies fall asleep!" exclaimed the Pokedex in a booming voice.

"Whoa, this one's loud!" exclaimed Ned.

"I think I'm going to like this Pokedex then...maybe they aren't just for nerds." noted Chris.

Curious, Ned decided to give his Eevee a scan as well. Though it was gradually recovering from the beatdown Chris's Jigglypuff had given it, it was still in fairly bad shape.

"Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon. It can evolve if exposed to elemental stones." explained the Pokedex in a soothing voice.

"I like this Pokedex...it's relaxing." noted Ned.

"I think it's boring." answered Chris.

Curious, Chris decided to scan the Spearow as well.

"Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokemon! It has to flap its wings really hard to stay in the air!" exclaimed the Pokedex.

The Spearow must have heard the Pokedex, because it flew towards them.

"You just made this too easy." taunted Chris.

Using her Jigglypuff to sing a song to make the Spearow fall asleep, she then tossed a Pokeball at it. Due to the fact that it was still slumbering, it did not put up much of a struggle, and thus was caught easily.

"Well, that's my second Pokemon." acknowledged the tomboy.

"I wish I had a second Pokemon..." said Ned.

"Meh, I'm sure you'll get your own in due time." answered Chris. "Now don't forget about paying back your debt!"

"Right...I actually haven't forgotten about that." responded the nerd.

"You better not." replied the tomboy.

Suddenly, Chris's Spearow popped out of its Pokeball and started pecking Ned on the forehead.

"What the-why is it doing that?" inquired Ned.

"It has too much free time on its hands...speaking of which, what gender is it?" inquired Chris.

"Try scanning it with your Pokedex again to find out." answered the nerd.

The tomboy did as she was told...which established the Spearow to be male.

"So it's a dude? Sounds good!" exclaimed Chris.

"Funny, I was thinking that you would want a female Pokemon..." spoke Ned.

"Maybe the Pokemon you catch will turn out to be female." answered Chris.

"Right...anyways, can you recall it? I'm starting to get a headache." answered the nerd.

"Fine." answered the tomboyish Pokemon trainer as she did as Ned asked.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Pokemon Center. Immediately, a few Chanseys greeted them.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the friendly Chanseys.

"Excuse me, miss, I really need you to heal my Eevee! He got really beat up during a Pokemon battle and I'm starting to get worried about him." exclaimed Ned.

"My Jigglypuff did it." answered Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed her Jigglypuff.

"I see...alright then, let's give him a look." explained Nurse Joy.

Ned delivered him to Nurse Joy.

"Well, dear Pokemon trainer, he shouldn't take too long for me to heal. Just give me a few minutes." said Nurse Joy.

"By the way, I see that you're travelling with a friend. It's good to see that you're helping another Pokemon trainer with their Pokemon journey." noted the nurse.

"What? He's not my friend!" exclaimed Chris.

Ned frowned sadly.

"I thought you were my friend..." said the nerd.

Chris sighed.

"Fine. We're friends. Happy now?" inquired Chris as she shook hands with Ned.

"Uh-huh! I feel like throwing a party! Finally someone's acknowledged me!" exclaimed the nerd.

Chris raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" she inquired.

Nurse Joy took Ned's Eevee to the infirmary.

Shortly afterwards, Ned noticed that there were two female Pokemon trainers nearby. He got the strong urge to flirt with them...which he did.

"Hi there girls! It's nice to see you! It's good to see that there are pretty Pokemon trainers around." spoke Ned.

"Um, thanks..." answered one of the female Pokemon trainers.

Unfortunately for Ned, Chris noticed what he was doing...and for some strange reason, she was not amused by what her partner was up to.

Eventually, she decided to put a stop to it.

"Say Jigglypuff? Why don't you go out there and impress them with their singing? Surely they're fans of yours." answered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and began to sing a song.

Suddenly, Ned and the female Pokemon trainers started to fall asleep.

"Well, off to Dreamland...I go..." murmured the nerdy Pokemon trainer as he fell asleep.

"Oh dear, it looks like they weren't fans of yours after all...and to think you went to so much trouble to write a song too." noted Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff was very mad.

Suddenly, she pulled out a marker and started scribbling on the offending Pokemon trainer's faces. Pretty soon, they started to look ridiculous.

"Funny, I didn't actually tell you to do that...but this is hilarious!" exclaimed Chris.

Eventually, she collapsed onto the floor, laughing her head off.

Chris's Jigglypuff smiled. She was glad to see that her Pokemon trainer was supportive of her singing, even if her partner wasn't.

Suddenly, Chris noticed that although they were still standing upright, Nurse Joy's Chanseys had fallen asleep too.

"Er, how am I supposed to explain this to Nurse Joy?" inquired the tomboy.

A few seconds later, Nurse Joy walked into the room holding onto Ned's Eevee, who was good as new.

"Alright, I'm back with your Ee-what happened here?! Why is everyone sleeping?!" exclaimed Nurse Joy.

She promptly looked at Chris, who was standing there with her Jigglypuff. She chuckled nervously and sweatdropped.

"Uh...aheh heh heh...I guess my Jigglypuff doesn't know her own singing voice..." said the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

Nurse Joy promptly facepalmed.

"I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting paid enough for this..." said the nurse.

_Well, Jake, Lucy, and Chris have all earned their first Pokemon...as for Ned, he's going to have to wait a little longer...especially now that he's taking a snooze! Heh heh heh!_

_And yes, I used one of the anime's gags for this chapter...and I'll be using it again in the future. Why you ask? Because it's funny! At least I think so._

_In the next chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to arrive in Viridian City...but they're going to have to prepare for trouble._


	6. Chapter 6: Preparing For Trouble

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, two of our heroes are going to bump into a certain trio of Team Rocket members...not good. But not to worry, I assure you that they're going to get out of it this fine...though Lucy's Clefairy will be in danger of being stolen...and of course nobody wants that._

_Meanwhile, two of our heroes are going to go check out the Indigo Plateau Conference...even though it isn't actually open yet and they don't have any badges...oh well, at least they can have a tour right?_

**Chapter 6: Preparing For Trouble**

Chris and Ned were the first ones to arrive in Viridian City. After all, Chris was looking forward to obtaining her first Gym Badge.

Personally, Ned was wondering if he should try battling a Gym Leader as well. To be honest, he had been rather content simply collecting Pokemon and trying to complete the Pokedex his Dad gave him.

However, as it turns out, they had a problem...the Viridian City gym was not open.

"What?! The gym's closed? Whose leg does the gym leader think they're pulling?" inquired Chris.

"That's weird, the sign outside the gym doesn't actually say who the gym leader is..." noted Ned.

"Darn it! Now I can't hunt them down!" exclaimed the angry Pokemon trainer.

"Just like you're hunting me down?" inquired Ned.

"Yeah, pretty much." answered Chris. "Personally, I don't think you're cut out to be a Gym Leader though."

"What do you mean by th-oh very funny!" exclaimed Ned.

"Yeah...you can't be a Pokemon Gym Leader if you can't even keep track of your own Pokemon..." said Chris.

Ned dropped his head sadly.

"Ah well...I suppose we might as well head to the Indigo Plateau Conference..." said the tomboy.

"But we don't have any badges yet." pointed out the nerd.

"Thanks for putting out the obvious, but did you know that they're giving out tours?" inquired Chris.

"They are?" asked Ned.

"Yeah...generally, they explain the rules of the Indigo Plateau Conference and all that jazz. They also offer a course that allows you to get into the conference without having eight badges if you pass...but I'm not interested in that." said Chris.

"Funny, I went to a school to learn how to be a Pokemon Trainer before I actually got my license...I actually did pretty well." notified Ned.

"Really?" inquired Chris.

Ned handed Chris his report card.

"Wow...I'm actually impressed." said the tomboy.

"Yeah...I studied really hard for my exams..." explained Ned.

"Too bad you didn't actually train your Eevee." pointed out Chris.

"I know." answered Ned, who dropped his head sadly.

"Anyways, let's head to the conference, shall we?" inquired the tomboy.

"Mm-hmm." nodded the geek.

And so the two of them went to check out the tour. Sure enough, there was a man standing guard in front of the entrance.

"So, are you here for the tour?" asked one of the guards for the facility.

"Yes, we are." answered Chris.

"Alright then. Follow me." said the guard.

Immediately, he sent them to a room with several different illustrations detailing all they needed to know about the Indigo Plateau Conference.

"Basically, the Indigo Plateau Conference is one giant tournament. If you win a battle, you rise through the ranks...but if you lose, sorry, but you're out of the competition...and you'll have to head back home." explained the guard.

"Don't assume that's going to happen to me." said Chris.

"Really? I'll get booted out of the competition if I lose just one battle?" inquired Ned nervously.

"Yes...I'm afraid so. The conference can be cruel like that. In the event of a stalemate...well, we'll just have to flip a coin." explained the guard.

"I see..." noted Chris.

"Of course, you can also get disqualified from the conference if you engage in behavior that is not appropriate for a Pokemon trainer...we want them all to fight with honor." continued the guard.

"I better not break the rules then." said Ned.

"You really shouldn't. You'd be surprised how unsportsmanlike Pokemon trainers can be. But I trust you won't behave that way." explained the instructor.

"Right..." answered Chris. Though she was rather aggressive about being a Pokemon trainer, she did not want to cheat.

"Anyways, when you start off, you'll have to fight your opponents three on three...this will continue on until your sixth battle, in which you will battle with all six of your Pokemon, assuming you aren't eliminated first." explained the instructor.

"Are you saying that I'm going to lose?" inquired Chris with annoyance.

"No, I'm not, you have as much of a chance to win the competition as everyone else. In order to get to the finals, you'll have to compete on four different battlefields...each of which are designed for a particular type of Pokemon." said the guard.

"Rock, Ice, Water, and Grass, right?" inquired Ned.

"Yes...though considering the conference's popularity...we might try adding a few new arenas for a change. Just wanted to let you guys know." explained the guard.

"I see..." noted Chris.

"Anyways, that's pretty much it. Of course, you manage to win the tournament, you'll get a shiny trophy..." explained the guard.

"Awesome!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"And if you do well enough in the tournament, one of the Elite Four just might be interested in battling you...and if you're really lucky, the champion might want to battle you." said the guard.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ned.

"Yeah...believe it or not, we've had quite a few champions over the years...it's a rather fleeting title..." said the guard.

Sure enough, there were several portraits nearby of the several different champions Kanto has had.

"Let's see if we can get to the Hall of Fame, shall we?" inquired Chris.

"Now to think of it...I'm starting to wonder if I should start participating in the Pokemon League too...how far will I get?" questioned Ned.

"By all means, if you want to participate in the Pokemon League, go right ahead. Come back and stop by again once you have eight badges." explained the guard.

He promptly showed them the door.

"He sure was encouraging..." noted Ned.

"Well, now we know how to beat the Indigo Plateau Conference. Now let's go out there and get some badges!" exclaimed Chris.

"But the gym in Viridian City is closed..." pointed out the nerd.

"I'm sure the Gym Leader will open up eventually...they won't be able to hide from us forever." said the tomboy.

"If you say so." answered the nerd.

And so, they went out to search for Pokemon badges.

_Well, let's check on our other duo..._

As it turns out, Lucy and Jake had arrived in Viridian City a few minutes later than Chris and Ned did.

"This sure is a big city, isn't it?" inquired Jake.

"Yeah...I heard that it's not as big as Saffron or Celadon though..." pointed out Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Oddly enough, during her travels on her spaceship, she had noticed that there were Pokemon gyms there as well.

"Fair enough." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed that there was a police car nearby.

"Say it looks like Officer Jenny is here...I wonder what's the crime this time." said the Pokemon trainer.

"What?!" Jake exclaimed.

Sure enough, Officer Jenny was in fact in Viridian City...and she was currently talking to an old man.

"What seems to be the problem?" inquired Officer Jenny.

"Someone stole my coffee mug!" bellowed the old man.

"Really? I seem to recall you telling me last week that people were trespassing on your property...even though all they were trying to do was head to Viridian Forest." noted the police officer.

"Well, this time is different! I've been robbed! You've got to help me!" exclaimed the old man.

"I see..." answered the irritated Officer Jenny.

Jake promptly began to panic, realizing that he was still wearing his Team Rocket uniform.

"Oh man! I've got to change out of these clothes now! Quick, where is the nearest clothing store?" he screamed.

"It's right over there. Why?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy curiously. Was he hiding something from them?

"Thank you!" answered Jake as he ran into the clothing store.

A few minutes later, he came out wearing blue instead of the black uniform with an R on it he was wearing earlier...though he was still wearing his black hat.

"Wow...you look a lot better than before, Jake!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Um, thanks..." answered Jake. Personally, he wondered if wearing a Team Rocket uniform actually suited him.

Nonetheless, he still felt uncomfortable with Officer Jenny nearby, and decided that he should try heading in the other direction.

"Er, I think we should head back to Route 1..." said Jake.

"But we just got out of there!" pointed out Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy curiously. Why would he want to head back?

"I just figured it'd be nice to walk through it again...did you know that you could see your mansion from there?" inquired Jake.

"That's actually a pretty good point..." said Lucy. "But are you sure we should be wasting time?"

"Clefairy." agreed Lucy's Clefairy. Thought it would be nice to see Lucy's mansion again, they only had so much time before the Indigo Plateau Conference was underway.

Suddenly, they noticed that there seemed to be rustling in the nearby bushes.

"Say, do you hear something?" inquired Jake.

"Do you?" asked Lucy.

"Meowth!" exclaimed a mysterious voice.

"Wait a minute..." said the male Pokemon trainer.

Out of nowhere, two Team Rocket Grunts (and their Meowth) jumped out of the bushes. Lucy and Jake both jumped in surprise.

"Who are you guys?" inquired Lucy.

Jake immediately recognized them as Jessie and James, the bumbling duo that were considered Team Rocket's laughingstocks. And as usual, they had their talking Meowth with them.

Giving the Meowth a scan out of curiousity, Lucy found out some information.

"Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokemon. On a nightly basis, it searches for loose change. It loves circular objects." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"How true..." thought Meowth.

"Allow us to explain who we are with our song." said James.

"A song? Is it any good?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Of course it is! Watch and learn!" answered Jessie.

"Not this again..." thought Jake, recalling how they had sang the song the first time he had met them.

"Prepare for trouble!" exclaimed Jessie.

"And make it double!" continued James.

"To protect the world from devastation!" shouted Jessie.

"To unite all people within our nation!" bellowed James.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" yelled Jessie.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" squealed James.

"Jessie!" shouted Jessie.

"James!" yelled James.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight fight fight!" warned James.

"Meowth! That's right!" bellowed Meowth.

Lucy promptly applauded the three Pokemon trainers.

"Wow! You're really good at singing!" complimented the female Pokemon trainer.

"Thanks. We've been singing it for years." pointed out James.

"Really?" inquired Lucy.

Jessie nodded.

Oddly enough, Lucy noticed that Jake seemed to be banging his head against a nearby wall. Was he trying to get the song out of his head?

"Wait, did your Meowth just talk?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I did! What, did you think Pokemon were unable to speak?" inquired Meowth.

"Wow..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy in astonishment. Oddly enough, despite being part of a very intelligent race of Pokemon, none of the Clefairies had actually perfected human speech. Then again, she did hear they were building a translator.

"So...are you going to surrender, or are you going to fight us?" inquired James.

"Hmm..." wondered Lucy.

Jake promptly stopped banging his head against the wall to tell his colleagues some bad news.

"Um, guys...I wouldn't want to make too much of a scene if I were you." pointed out Jake.

"Why not?" inquired Meowth.

"In case you haven't noticed, Officer Jenny's right over there." explained the Team Rocket Grunt, pointing to the police cars in the distance.

Team Rocket promptly looked around, and gasped in horror.

"He's right! Officer Jenny really is here!" exclaimed James.

"What are we going to do?!" screamed Meowth.

"Let's just steal her Clefairy and run away!" bellowed Jessie.

Immediately, James snatched away Lucy's Clefairy...and prepared to make a run for it.

"My Clefairy! Jake, do something!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake promptly sighed.

"I sure hope that my colleagues will forgive me this..." thought Jake as he released his Grimer from his Pokeball.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer.

"Say...Grimer, do me a favor and help Lucy's Clefairy, will you? She's kind of in danger..." explained Jake.

The Sludge Pokemon nodded, and converted himself into a puddle.

The Team Rocket trio, not watching where they were going, ended up tripping directly over him.

"Aaugh!" bellowed James as he fell on his face.

Fortunately, this gave Lucy's Clefairy the opportunity to escape from Team Rocket's clutches, and she latched herself to her back once more.

"Officer Jenny!" exclaimed Lucy.

Turning around, Officer Jenny noticed what was happening.

"What the-it's Team Rocket!" exclaimed Jenny. "I have to arrest them now!"

"But what about my coffee cup?" inquired the old man.

"It was in the sink the whole time." pointed out the officer.

"Oh." realized the elderly man.

"Why didn't you check there?" inquired his wife.

"Whoops." answered the man.

Realizing that Officer Jenny was on to them, Team Rocket realized that they had to flee.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to scram...but we'll get you, and your little Clefairy too!" exclaimed Meowth.

"Aren't you going to say that you're blasting-"

"Maybe some other time!" interrupted James.

Jake scratched his head.

"Toodles!" exclaimed Jessie.

And so the three of them ran away.

Officer Jenny came by a few seconds later.

"Darn it! They got away! I knew I should have paid more attention..." said Officer Jenny.

"I'm sure you'll get them some day, Officer Jenny." encouraged Lucy.

"If you say so...though to be honest, I don't really think they're much of a threat to Kanto...they never really seem to succeed in any of their goals." pointed out the officer.

"You can say that again." thought Jake.

"On the other hand, their boss sure is...I've wanted to arrest him for ages, but he always hides himself pretty well." noted Jenny.

"I'm sure you'll catch him too." encouraged Lucy again.

Jake sweatdropped.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement. Now if you excuse me I've got to run...Team Rocket's really been doing a number on Kanto lately." explained Officer Jenny.

"Yikes." answered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy felt nervous. Were there other Team Rocket members out there that wanted a rare Pokemon just like her?

"See you later!" exclaimed Officer Jenny as she drove off.

Lucy, her Clefairy, and Jake's Grimer all gave her a wave of farewell.

Jake then let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally, she's gone..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

"What?" inquired Lucy.

"Nothing! Nothing! Let's head to Viridian Forest, shall we?" inquired Jake.

"Right, of course." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's Grimer.

"Wait, didn't you want to head to Route 1 a few minutes ago?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"I had a change of heart!" exclaimed Jake.

"OK..." answered Lucy.

And so the two of them set off to Viridian Forest.

"Phew...I was worried for a moment that I was going to get arrested..." thought Jake. Thankfully, he had fought the law and he had won...for now.

_Well, it looks like Lucy was lucky that Officer Jenny was nearby...though of course the same could not be said for poor Jake or for Team Rocket._

_But it's not going to be the last we're going to see of them...oh no. Can you guess whose going to encounter them next?_

_You'll find out in the next chapter...assuming you don't guess beforehand, of course. Oh, and Officer Jenny unfortunately won't be able to save them...so they're going to have to use their Pokemon to bail themselves out. Sorry, but just because she has identical sisters doesn't mean she can be omnipresent._

_Besides, that would just be plain creepy...and Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are creepy enough as it is. Heh heh heh._

_Adios!_


	7. Chapter 7: Intertwining

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, we're going to have a little crossover...what do you mean you ask? Well guess what? Our two duos are actually going to encounter each other! Yeah...they're not actually going to combine into a quartet though...sorry if you were hoping that._

_Basically, they're all going to have Pokemon battles with each other to see who is the strongest...it's going to be a miniature tournament of sorts...sound like fun?_

_Oh, and a certain trio's going to show up again..._

**Chapter 7: Intertwining**

Chris and Ned were sitting outside the entrance to Viridian Forest, relaxing out in the sun.

"Do we really have to sit out here? I'm really hoping that the gym to Pewter City hasn't closed yet." said Chris.

"Sorry...I'm just exhausted from that long session explaining the Indigo Plateau Conference..." pointed out Ned.

"Really? Because I'm still full of energy." pointed out the female Pokemon trainer.

"You are?" inquired the nerd.

"Yeah...are you really tired or are you just being lazy?" inquired Chris.

"Um..." answered Ned, unsure how to respond to that question.

Suddenly, he noticed that there were two Pokemon trainers coming, and decided to change the subject.

"Hey! Someone's coming!" exclaimed Ned.

Curious, Chris noticed that there was in fact someone coming...two people in fact. Immediately, she wanted to challenge them to a Pokemon battle.

"Hey there! Are you heading to Viridian Forest?" inquired Chris.

As it turns out, it was none other than Lucy and Jake.

"Yes we are, why?" asked Jake.

"Well guess what? You're going to have to challenge us to a Pokemon battle first! Heh heh heh." answered Chris.

"What?" inquired Ned.

Suddenly, she grabbed Ned by the arm and lifted him to his feet.

"Really? Is this going to be two and two?" inquired Lucy.

"In a sense...I'm going to battle one of you...and my partner here is going to battle one of you as well. After two of us win their respective battles, we'll then have them battle each other. Sound good?" inquired Chris.

"Can I count myself out?" questioned Ned.

"No, you can't!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"Aww..." complained the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"I suppose we might as well...this should help our Pokemon earn experience." noted Jake.

Lucy nodded in agreement.

"Glad to see you agree. Now then, it's time for me to test out my new Spearow!" exclaimed Chris as she threw her Pokeball.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Chris's Spearow. Apparently, he was looking forward to battling another Pokemon.

"I suppose I'll be the one to battle her. Rattata, you're up!" said Jake as he threw his Rattata's Pokeball.

"Rattatta!" cheered Jake's Rattata. Was there any food nearby?

"Lucy, you up to battling her buddy?"

"Yes, I sure am." answered Lucy.

"If my partner insists...go, Eevee!" said Ned as he tossed his Eevee's Pokeball.

"Eevee!" spoke the Evolution Pokemon. It was nice to finally get to battle again after his stay at the Pokemon Center.

Lucy decided to choose her Pidgey.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" she exclaimed.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Are we all set?" inquired Chris.

"Yeah, I think so." answered Jake.

"Alright then. Spearow, give that Rattata a Peck!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Spearow nodded and started pecking Rattata on the head, much to the latter's displeasure.

"Rattata, shake it off! Use Tackle!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Rattata did as he was asked, and knocked Spearow down...though it got up a few seconds later.

"Spearow, try Growling at it!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so and started growling fiercely at Jake's Rattata.

"Spear!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

This worked rather well. All of a sudden, Jake's Rattata lost much of his will to fight.

"Rattata..." murmured Jake's unfortunate Rattata.

"Keep it together Rattata! Try using Tail Whip!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Rattata did as he was asked...but unfortunately, Chris's Spearow wasn't too impressed.

"That's what I'm talking about! Keep on Pecking it!" exclaimed Chris.

The bird Pokemon started pecking Rattata once more.

"Rattata, use Tackle!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Rattata did as he was told...but this time, it wasn't nearly as effective.

"Uh-oh..." thought Jake.

"Perfect! Give it a Peck! Again!" exclaimed Chris.

At this point, Jake's Rattata caved in, and collapsed on the floor with swirls in his eyes.

"Darn it! He fainted!" exclaimed Jake as he recalled his unfortunate Rattata.

"Uh-huh!" cheered Chris.

"Well, now to use my Grimer, I guess." said the Team Rocket Grunt as he threw his Grimer's Pokeball.

Sure enough, his Grimer slithered out.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer.

"You have a Grimer, huh? I wish I had one." said Chris.

"Gee, Chris isn't the girliest Pokemon trainer in the world..." thought Jake to himself.

Meanwhile, Lucy was busy sparring with Ned.

"Pidgey, use Tackle!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did as she was told, and hit Ned's Eevee on his big head.

Unfortunately for Lucy, Ned's Eevee quickly shrugged it off.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the

"Why don't you return the favor, Eevee?" inquired Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded, and hit Pidgey with a Tackle of his own. This was much more effective, and Lucy's Pidgey collapsed on the floor.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Pidgey..." murmured her Pidgey.

Fortunately, she ultimately turned out to be OK, though she was rather woozy.

"Pidgey, use Tackle again!" ordered Lucy.

Pidgey did as she was told...though as before this didn't do much good.

"Oh dear..." thought Lucy.

"Again, return the favor." ordered Ned.

Ned's Eevee Tackled the bird Pokemon once again, and this time, Lucy's Pidgey went down.

"Pidgey..." whimpered the unfortunate bird as she fainted.

The wealthy Pokemon trainer sighed as she returned her fainted bird Pokemon into her Pokeball.

"Well, looks like I win." said Ned.

"Actually, I've still got another Pokemon." explained Lucy.

"You do? I don't see its Pokeball..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Lucy's Clefairy hopped off of her back.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Oh...now I get it." he answered.

"Yeah...for some strange reason, she didn't really like the idea of being inside a Pokeball...so I let her ride on my back." said Lucy.

"Oh...I thought she was just a backpack or something." spoke Ned.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Did she look like a backpack to him?

Meanwhile, Jake's Grimer was doing rather well against Chris's Spearow. As it turns out, Pecking it with its beak wasn't working out.

"Grimer?" inquired said Grimer, who wasn't feeling particularly injured by the Spearow's strikes.

"Spearow..." murmured Chris's Spearow sadly.

"Darn it! This isn't working!" exclaimed the unfortunate Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, her Spearow started Leering at the Grimer, causing it to become nervous and start losing defense.

"What the-did you just learn a new move or something?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Spearow nodded.

"Keep on doing that then, I guess...I can't really think of anything else." said the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"Spearow!" exclaimed her bird Pokemon.

However, as it turned out, Jake wasn't going to sit around and let Chris's Spearow continue to lower his Grimer's defenses.

"Grimer! Use Poison Gas!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Grime!" squealed Jake's Grimer as it did so.

And sure enough, Chris's Spearow ended up being poisoned.

"Spearow..." murmured the unfortunate Spearow.

"Quick, Peck the Grimer before the poison makes you faint!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Spearow did as he was told...but as it turned out, he simply wasn't fast enough.

"Spearow..." murmured the bird as he fainted.

"Well, looks like it's just one and one for us now..." said the male Pokemon Trainer.

"Yes...Jigglypuff, I choose you!" exclaimed Chris as she tossed her Jigglypuff's Pokeball.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Wait, your starter Pokemon's a Jigglypuff?" inquired Jake.

"I know..." answered the black-haired Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Lucy was dueling Ned's Eevee with her Clefairy.

"Eevee, use Tackle!" exclaimed Ned.

Unfortunately, his Eevee was taking a nap. Apparently his battle against Lucy's Pidgey had exhausted him.

"This isn't good." he thought.

"Clefairy, use Pound!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy promptly took advantage of the situation and struck Eevee into the ground. However, this caused him to wake up.

Suddenly, he tried something new. He immediately kicked sand into Lucy's Clefairy's eyes.

"Oh...looks like you've learned Sand-Attack!" exclaimed Ned.

This would not prove to be good news for his opponent, as all of a sudden she had a harder time seeing her foe.

But as it turned out, Lucy's Clefairy had a new trick of her own.

Suddenly, she began to applaud Ned's Eevee for the move he had done.

"Clefairy! Clefairy!" cheered the Fairy Pokemon.

Immediately, the Evolution Pokemon was unable to resist using Sand-Attack again...and again...and again.

"What did you just do?" inquired Lucy.

"Clef fairy clef." explained Clefairy.

"You used Encore to make him keep using Sand Attack? Why would you want to do that?" asked the Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy then explained that she could then shield her eyes whenever the sand came, thus making the technique useless.

"Now I see where you're going with this!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately for Ned, he was unable to stop his Eevee from continuing the use of his new move, and Lucy's Clefairy shielded her eyes every single time.

Coupled by the fact Lucy had her Clefairy use Pound every single time, Ned's Eevee ended up being pummeled every single time without having a chance to defend himself...and he ultimately fainted.

"Not again!" exclaimed Ned.

"Alright! I won this time!" cheered Lucy.

"This is the second battle I've lost in a row..." complained the nerdy Pokemon trainer as he handed Lucy some Pokedollars.

"I'm sure you'll win a Pokemon battle eventually." answered Lucy.

"If you say so." nodded Ned optimistically. "What is your name, anyway?"

"My name's Lucy. Pleased to meet you." said Lucy as she shook Ned's hand.

"My name's Ned..." explained the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Chris's Jigglypuff was sparring with Jake's Grimer.

"Grimer, why don't you use Poison Gas again...you seem rather good at using it." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded and gave his opponent a taste of his toxic vapors.

However, as it turned out, his plan had a flaw...due to the fact that Jigglypuff was a Balloon Pokemon, gasses did not hurt her much. In fact, she hardly felt the poison at all.

"Jiggly?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

"I'm not sure why that gas didn't hurt you, but why question something I like?" questioned Chris.

"Jiggly!" squealed her lucky Jigglypuff.

"Oh man, this is bad!" exclaimed Jake.

And indeed it was. So far, he had used that particular technique to win his Pokemon battles...but with her Jigglypuff essentially immune to it, how was he going to win this time?

"Now then, let's make that Grimer fall asleep with that voice of hers, shall we?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and started to Sing.

"Don't listen to her!" exclaimed Jake.

Unfortunately, it was too late. His Grimer had already fallen asleep.

"How can it listen to your singing anyway? It doesn't even have ears! Not ones that I can see...anyway." exclaimed Jake.

"It can always hear what you're saying, can it not?" inquired Chris.

"True..." nodded the criminal Pokemon trainer.

"Anyways, Pound it for me while it's still sleeping, will you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Jigglypuff nodded, and kept on Pounding Jake's Grimer. Though it was made of sludge, it could not forever withstand the assault, and eventually he fainted in his sleep.

Jake promptly sighed. That was his last Pokemon. He immediately handed Chris some money.

"Just ninety-nine thousand nin

"Well, at least you were more entertaining to battle than my partner was. My name's Chris." informed the female Pokemon trainer as she shook his hand.

"My name's Jake...wait, why does your hand feel slimy?" inquired Jake.

"I kind of spit on it before I shook hands with you..." explained Chris.

"Yuck...wait, isn't Chris a boy's name?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

"It's short for Christine...though I really hope you aren't planning on calling me that." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"I suppose I won't." answered Jake.

"Very good." nodded Chris.

_A few minutes later..._

"So let me get this straight...you lost to a girl again?" inquired Chris.

Ned nodded in agreement.

"Funnily enough I lost to a girl too...though I did manage to take out one of her Pokemon..." noted Jake.

"I was hoping that you would win..." said Lucy sadly.

"Well, he didn't...and now you're going to be facing me next." explained Chris.

"Really?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...that's what I said earlier, didn't I?" inquired the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Oh right...you said this was a mini-tournament..." remembered Lucy.

"Let's all go to the Pokemon Center so that we can battle our Pokemon again, shall we?" asked Chris.

"Right..." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

And so off to the Pokemon Center they went.

_A few minutes later..._

"Alright, it's just you and me now...so I hope that you make this count." said Chris.

"I will." answered Lucy.

"Alright then...let's get it on! Spearow, let's go!" exclaimed the unfeminine Pokemon trainer as she threw her Spearow's Pokeball.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Chris's Spearow, ready to make another Pokemon faint.

"Pidgey, I choose you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed her Pidgey.

"Spearow, give it a Peck, will you? Granted, you've done this several times already..." pointed out Chris.

Chris's Spearow nodded as he reached forward to peck Lucy's Pidgey in the face.

However, as it turns out, the Tiny Bird Pokemon had gotten more observant since her encounter with her Eevee. She promptly hopped out of the way and kicked sand into her opponent's eyes.

"Oh, looks like it can use Sand-Attack now..." said Lucy.

"Yeah yeah yeah...but my Spearow's still going to win!" exclaimed Chris.

"Try using Sand-Attack again!" exclaimed the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Pidgey did so, and kicked sand into her foe's eyes.

"Try Pecking it again!" exclaimed Chris.

Unfortunately for Chris's Spearow, due to the fact that he still had sand in his eyes, he had a hard time doing so.

"Pidgey, use Tackle!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did so and made Chris's Spearow fall on the floor. However, he flew back up again.

"Well, Spearow, since you can't hit the side of a barn now, why don't you try using Leer?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Spearow nodded and glanced at Lucy's Pidgey, causing her to let her guard now.

But as it turns out, this would ultimately not do him much good.

"Pidgey, use Tackle!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did so, and she got a critical hit. Chris's Spearow went down.

"Oh c'mon!" exclaimed the tomboyish Pokemon trainer as she recalled her Pokemon.

"Congratulations, Pidgey!" cheered Lucy.

"Pidgey!" cheered Lucy's Pidgey.

"Let's see if my Jigglypuff does any better." said Chris as she threw her Jigglypuff's Pokeball.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Let's make that Pidgey face the music shall we? Use Sing!" exclaimed the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and sang a song for Lucy's Pidgey, making the Tiny Bird Pokemon fall asleep.

"No!" exclaimed Lucy.

And as before, Chris took the opportunity to Pound her opponent into submission with her Jigglypuff, resulting in Pidgey fainting.

"This strategy always works well..." noted the tomboy.

"Well, Clefairy, you're up." said Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded as she detached herself from Lucy's back as before. Oddly enough, she once heard the story about a Jigglypuff that invaded a Clefairy spaceship and beat up every single Clefairy that was on board...simply because they had stolen her microphone.

She decided that it was best not to try to take away her mike, even if it would prevent Jigglypuff from singing.

Sure enough, Chris decided to make her Jigglypuff sing once more.

"Jigglypuff, let's make that Clefairy take a nap, shall we?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded as she began to sing a song like before.

However, Lucy's Clefairy was prepared, and covered her ears so that she wouldn't hear the song.

Chris promptly frowned. That was one smart Clefairy.

"We might have to try something different..." noted the tomboy.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and curled herself into a ball to increase her defense.

"Er, you can use Defense Curl now?" inquired Chris.

Her Jigglypuff nodded.

"Try using Encore then!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded as she started applauding Jigglypuff, thus trapping her into using the move repeatedly.

However, as it turned out, her plan had a flaw...since the Balloon Pokemon kept on increasing her defense, her Clefairy quickly had a hard time doing damage to Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff as she dodged Lucy's Clefairy's attacks.

"This isn't good..." thought Lucy.

Eventually, the Encore wore off, and the Balloon Pokemon was allowed to select a particular move again.

"Jigglypuff, use Pound!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and started pounding into Lucy's Clefairy. And wouldn't you know it, it was a critical hit.

"This isn't my Pokemon battle, is it?" inquired Lucy.

"I'm afraid not. Use Pound again!" answered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, and Lucy's Clefairy went down.

"Well, it looks like I'm the winner of this mini-tournament, heh heh..." said the tomboy as Lucy handed her some Pokedollars.

"How'd you get so strong?" inquired Ned.

"I may have paid a visit to an area full of high-level Pokemon..." pointed out Chris.

"Isn't that dangerous?" asked Lucy.

"Not for me, it wasn't." answered Chris.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff. She remembered having to save her owner from a rampaging Tauros who wasn't happy about her invading his territory.

After Lucy and Chris paid a visit to the Pokemon Center once more, everyone was ready to resume their Pokemon journey.

"Well, off to the forest we go." said Lucy.

"Try not to get lost in the forest, you guys. Accidents can happen." pointed out Jake.

"Right...we'll try to be careful." answered Ned.

"What makes you think that we're going to get lost in the forest?" inquired Chris.

"Just wanted to let you guys know that it can be maze-like..." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Whatever." retorted the tomboy.

As Jake and Lucy went into the Viridian Forest, Ned noticed that they left something behind.

"Er, you dropped your...thousand Pokedollars?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer as he picked up the bill.

"A thousand Pokedollars? Really?" inquired Chris.

"Yeah...do you get the feeling that they're well off?" asked the nerd.

"Well, Lucy did give me a fair share of Pokedollars for defeating her...maybe we should ask her if she can help us pay off your debt?" asked the tomboy.

"Yeah...about that...she already wandered off into the forest...I think we're going to have a hard time finding her..." pointed out Ned.

"D'oh!" exclaimed Chris.

_Well, I hope you enjoyed that little crossover...anyways, in the next chapter, our heroes are all going to enter the Viridian Forest._

_Oh, and Chris and Ned are going to encounter a familiar trio...they never seem to give up...even when Ash Ketchum isn't involved. Heh heh heh heh._

_Farewell!_


	8. Chapter 8: Bug Catching

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter...two of the characters in my story are going to catch a bug Pokemon...and it's probably not going to be the Pokemon trainers you think they are...yeah, I like having fun with the Pokemon they catch..._

_Let's see if they catch anything cool, shall we?_

**Chapter 8: Bug Catching**

"It's nice to be able to go out and enter a forest for a change...it's full of fresh air and all." noted Lucy.

Her Clefairy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah...it sure is." agreed Jake.

Suddenly, his Grimer slithered out of his Pokeball.

"Um, I'm not sure that this such a good idea, buddy." pointed out the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer.

Sure enough, a few of the plants around the Pokemon began to wilt.

"See?" answered Jake.

"Grime..." murmured the slimy Pokemon sadly as he returned to his Pokeball.

"On the other hand, I think my Rattata will come in handy for finding our way to the other side...he has a pretty decent sense of smell..." pointed out Jake.

"Maybe I could use my Pidgey to get a bird's eye view of the forest..." said Lucy.

On cue, she released her Pidgey from her Pokeball.

"Can you help us find our way through?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Pidgey, and started to fly her way up...

...but she didn't get very far, and fell down on her face.

"Oh dear...I guess she hasn't mastered the art of flying yet...sorry about that." sympathized Lucy.

"Pidgey..." said her Pidgey sadly as she returned to her Pokeball.

"I guess we're going to have to stick to my plan then..." noted Jake.

Lucy nodded in agreement.

Immediately, he sent his Rattata to find his way out of the confusing forest...and some food supplies while he was at it in case they had to spend a while there.

But as it turns out, the forest was not as big as they thought...as Jake's Rattata came back a few minutes later.

"Did you find the exit?" inquired Jake.

Jake's Rattata nodded with agreement.

"I guess this forest isn't as spacious as we thought..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Maybe because it's for rookie Pokemon trainers?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...maybe...we're probably going to have to enter more places like this in the future though...I heard that there's an enormous cave called Victory Road that trainers have to go through to get to Indigo Plateau..." pointed out Jake.

"Really?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...for some strange reason, it's full of high-level Pokemon...I'm personally starting to see why they have guards to prevent trainers from getting inside without eight badges..." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

"So, it's a test of strength for Pokemon trainers?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...pretty much...of course, once we get eight badges, we'll probably be able to handle anything, so I don't think it'll be that much of a bridge when we come to it." pointed out Jake.

"If you say so." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Jake noticed that his Rattata had once again gotten an apple for him.

"You sure love apples, don't you?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Rattata nodded his head in agreement.

Lucy's stomach began to grumble.

"Say, why don't you give that to Lucy? She seems hungrier than I am..." pointed out Jake.

Jake's Rattata nodded as he gave Lucy the apple.

Suddenly, she noticed something strange.

"That's weird...this apple seems to have a hole in it...I wonder how that got there?" inquired Lucy.

Shortly afterwards, a Caterpie crawled out of the apple, much to her surprise.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake immediately noticed what had happened, and immediately he started to feel frightened. He heard that a significant amount of female Pokemon trainers screamed at the top of their lungs whenever they encountered their first bug Pokemon...

He promptly covered his ears, ready for the worst to happen...

...but as it turns out, he had nothing to worry about.

"Aww! How cute!" squealed Lucy.

Jake let out a sigh of relief. He had dodged a Hyper Beam.

"Caterpie?" inquired the hungry worm Pokemon.

Immediately, Lucy gave the Caterpie a scan.

"Caterpie, the Worm Pokemon. Its short feet have suction pads that it can use to climb up walls." explained the Pokedex.

Sure enough, the wild Caterpie left the apple and began to climb up a nearby tree.

"You think it will let me catch it?" inquired Lucy.

"You might have to battle it first..." pointed out Jake.

"It doesn't seem like much of a fighter to me..." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Her Clefairy nodded her head in agreement. After all, it was a rather small Pokemon.

"If you say so." answered Jake.

Immediately, she threw a Pokeball at the Caterpie. Apparently, Lucy was right, as the worm Pokemon did not put up much of a struggle.

Sure enough, there was a familiar ding sound.

"Wait...if that Pokemon you caught isn't a fighter...then how is it going to get experience?" inquired Jake.

"I suppose I'll have to think of something...maybe I could try having it to spar with another one of my Pokemon?" questioned Lucy.

"It better not be your Pidgey." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy sweatdropped.

"Right..." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Scanning her Caterpie's Pokedex...she discovered that it was a girl too.

"You sure seem to be gathering a lot of female Pokemon..." noted Jake.

"You think I'll catch a male Pokemon one day?" inquired Lucy.

"You're bound to get one eventually." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

"If you say so." answered Lucy.

_Meanwhile on the other side of the forest..._

"Darn it! We lost her!" exclaimed Chris.

"I'm sure we'll probably encounter her again..." noted Ned.

"Sure, buddy, sure..." explained the Pokemon trainer.

"Say, maybe you could use your Spearow to find her?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Chris released her Spearow from her Pokeball. He did his best, but unfortunately he could not see her.

"Spearow." apologized her Spearow, shaking her head.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the tomboy.

Curious enough, Chris's Spearow also informed there that there seemed to be a Meowth hot air balloon nearby.

"A Meowth hot air balloon? Who would ride around in that?" inquired Ned.

"I just wonder where that wealthy little girl went off to..." answered Chris.

"It's not like she disappeared off the face of the earth..." encountered the nerd.

Suddenly, he noticed that there were several posters on the trees.

"Huh, how did these get here?" inquired Ned.

Curious, Chris decided to give them a closer look. Curiously enough, they were detailing several different Pokemon trainers that had gone missing.

One of them was a samurai carrying a sword, another was a tough-looking boy with a Sandshrew, yet another one was a pretty-looking girl with a Cubone, YET another one was a scientist who was researching Clefairy and wouldn't stop rhyming, and finally, one was a smug-looking boy that had abandoned his Charmander.

"Where did they all go?" wondered Chris.

"I sure hope Lucy doesn't end up like them..." worried Ned.

"I sure hope not...I've been waiting forever to make enough money to get another bike!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"It's only been a few hours..." pointed out the nerd.

"Who cares? I want another bike immediately!" exclaimed Chris.

"OK..." explained Ned. "Anyways, can we get some food from our supply bag? I got a ton of them from the Pokemart and I'm feeling really hungry..."

"Suit yourself, little man." answered the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

Ned nodded...but as he did so...he noticed something strange...his bag seemed to be moving.

"What the-" he thought.

Curious, he decided to take a closer look...and he promptly screamed like a little girl.

Chris promptly raised an eyebrow.

"You scream like a little girl?" inquired the tomboy.

"Don't judge me!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Curious, Chris decided to take a peek inside the bag...and discovered that there was a Weedle eating their food. She was not amused.

"What's the big idea?!" she exclaimed.

"Weedle?" inquired the curious Weedle. What was it doing wrong?

"That food is for us! Quit devouring it, you little pig!" bellowed the tomboy.

"Weedle..." said the hungry Weedle sadly, dropping its head.

Chris promptly grabbed the Weedle and dropped it outside the bag.

"Why don't you go find your own food?" inquired the tomboy.

"Weedle..." murmured the upset bug Pokemon as it scurried away.

As it did so, it caught Chris's Spearow's attention. Seeing though it ate some of its Pokemon trainer's food...maybe he should try taking a Peck out of it or two? That would be just desserts.

Deciding that would be a good idea, he promptly flew in front of the wild Weedle.

"Weedle!" exclaimed the unfortunate Hairy Bug Pokemon.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Chris's Spearow. Payback was going to be sweet...

...but as it turns out, though Chris was fairly aggressive about being a Pokemon trainer, she had limits to how far she was willing to treat a Pokemon.

"Hey! Hey! No eating other Pokemon!" exclaimed Chris.

"Spearow?" inquired Chris's Spearow.

"Just because it ate some of our food doesn't mean you should eat it instead. That's rather disproportionate, you know." pointed out the female Pokemon trainer.

"Spearow..." answered the bird Pokemon sadly.

Apparently, the wild Weedle appreciated what Chris had done, because it began to snuggle up against her leg.

"What the-" responded Chris in surprise.

"Hmm...interesting...it seems that since you told it off for eating your food and saved it from your Spearow...it thinks you're the queen Beedrill now." pointed out Ned.

"Weedle!" squealed the wild Weedle in agreement.

Ned gave the Weedle a scan.

"Weedle, the Hairy Bug Pokemon. Often found in forests eating leaves, it has a poisonous stinger on its head."

"I can see that..." answered Chris.

"Ironically enough...the Pokedex says that it's a girl...heh heh." pointed out Ned.

The wild Weedle nodded her head. She hoped that she was going to be a queen Beedrill some day.

"Well, since you think I'm your queen now...I suppose you're inevitably going to hunt me down to the ends of the earth, just like my buddy here, am I right?" inquired Chris.

The wild Weedle nodded her head.

Chris sighed.

"Well, into the Pokeball you go...but don't eat my food unless I tell you to!" she exclaimed as she tossed her Pokeball.

"Weedle!" answered the wild Weedle in agreement as she was converted into energy.

Sure enough, there was a familiar ding.

"Well, let's just hope that my Weedle doesn't devour our food supplies..." noted Chris.

"I'm sure she'll be able to control her appetite..." answered Ned.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turns out, Team Rocket was on the prowl once again. For some strange reason, they never seemed to give up on their life of crime regardless of how much the other members of Team Rocket ridiculed them.

Of course, it was nice for them to not actually get sent blasting off for a change...though they got the feeling that was going to be short-lived.

"Thank goodness...or should I say badness? Hmm..." wondered Jessie.

"Well, our attempt to grab that girl's Clefairy didn't go too well...we almost got arrested!" noted James as they rode off in their hot air balloon.

"Curse you, Officer Jenny!" bellowed Meowth.

"I swear, she always seems to be everywhere regardless of where she goes...why can't she let us do something illegal for a change?" inquired Jessie.

"I heard that she has a bunch of identical twin sisters all over the world...really uncanny, don't you think?" inquired James.

"Funny, I happened to be born in a litter full of Meowths that looked just like me...what a strange coincidence..." noted Meowth, scratching his head.

"Anyways...how are we going to make it up to Giovanni now? There aren't any other Pokemon trainers in sight!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Really? Because I see two of them right down there..." pointed out James.

"Do they have any valuable Pokemon?" inquired the female Team Rocket Grunt.

Curious, Meowth decided to do something smart for a change. He took a quick sniff to detect the Pokemon the trainers had...he ended up getting some satisfying results.

"As a matter of fact, yes they do! One of them has a Jigglypuff while the other has an Eevee! Looks like we'll be making some money!" exclaimed the feline Pokemon.

"Is Officer Jenny nearby?" inquired James.

"No...apparently she isn't a forest ranger." pointed out Meowth.

"Perfect! Land the balloon already!" exclaimed Jessie.

James did as Jessie told him to.

_Time for Chris and Ned to prepare for trouble..._

"Say, do you get the feeling we're going to be in trouble soon?" inquired Ned.

"What makes you say that?" asked Chris.

"Just a hunch." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Well, if it's really worrying you, I'll send out my Jigglypuff then." said the female Pokemon trainer.

"Jigglypuff!" Chris's Jigglypuff exclaimed as she was converted into matter.

"I'll send out my Eevee too." answered Ned, sending out his Eevee.

"Eevee!" Ned's Eevee exclaimed as he was sent out.

It turns out Ned was correct about them being in trouble, as a Team Rocket Hot Air Balloon landed right in front of them a few seconds later, much to their surprise.

"How did that get there?!" exclaimed Ned.

And if that wasn't surprising enough, two Team Rocket Grunts and a Meowth jumped out of it.

"Who the heck are you guys?" inquired Chris.

"It's motto time!" yelled Meowth.

"Motto time?" inquired Ned.

"Prepare for trouble!" exclaimed Jessie.

"And make it double!" bellowed James.

All of a sudden, Chris began to feel really bored.

"To protect the world from devastation!" sang Jessie.

"To unite all people within our nation!" continued James.

Chris began to yawn.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" bellowed Jessie.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" squealed James.

All of a sudden, Chris began to take a nap.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired her Jigglypuff, feeling a sense of deja vu.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" exclaimed the female Team Rocket grunt.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" yelled the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Meowth! That's right!" bellowed Meowth.

Suddenly, the trio noticed that one of the Pokemon trainers they were singing their song for had fallen asleep. They were not amused.

"What? How dare you!" exclaimed Jessie.

Immediately, Meowth started to awaken Chris by scratching her face.

"Aah!" exclaimed Chris as she was woken up rather abruptly.

"What's the big idea?!" Ned screamed in rage. Apparently Chris being injured made him go berserk.

"Maybe next time you'll pay attention to our song!" exclaimed Meowth as he wandered back to the Team Rocket duo.

"Jigglypuff." sympathized Chris's Jigglypuff. She had felt their pain.

"What do you guys even want?" asked Chris, who was rubbing her scratched face.

"Are you going to surrender to us, or are you going to fight?" inquired James.

"I think we should surrender Chris...these guys look dangerous..." warned Ned.

"I got chased by a wild Tauros...I basically laugh at danger...I choose to fight." answered Chris.

"Very well." answered James.

Suddenly, the two Team Rocket members hurled their Pokeballs at the trainer duo. Sure enough, an Ekans and a Koffing appeared.

"Ekans!" exclaimed the enemy Ekans.

"Koffing!" bellowed the foe Koffing.

Chris decided to give Ekans a scan while Ned did the same for the Koffing.

"Ekans, the Snake Pokemon! It can swallow the eggs of bird Pokemon whole!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"Eevee..." murmured Ned's Eevee nervously. Would it be interested in eating a small Pokemon like him?

"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokemon. It is full of poisonous gases and can explode without warning." warned Ned's Pokedex.

"Jigglypuff?" asked her Jigglypuff curiously. Was there actually another type of balloon Pokemon out there?

"So...which one should we take on? There's two of us and two of them..." pointed out Ned.

"You take care of the boy, I'll take care of the girl." answered Chris.

"Sure thing...Eevee, Tackle the Koffing!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded and slammed into James' Koffing.

"Koffing, use Smokescreen...though admittedly this isn't a getaway this time..." demanded James.

His Koffing did so, causing Ned's Eevee to start to cough.

"You OK there, buddy?" inquired Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded.

"Then use Tackle again!" exclaimed the nerd.

His Eevee hit James' Koffing once more.

"Koffing, use Smog!" demanded James.

Koffing did so...but since Ned's Eevee held his breath, this didn't actually hurt him.

However, he was starting to have a hard time seeing through all the smoke. Where had the Koffing gone?

The Evolution Pokemon got an idea...what if he tried a new technique?

Suddenly, Ned's Eevee started to shoot stars at James' Koffing.

"Yes! You've learnt Swift!" cheered the nerd.

"Eevee!" cheered his Eevee.

And as it turned out, Swift always hit an opposing Pokemon whenever it was used...even when the user Pokemon was wearing a blindfold.

Suffice to say, James' Koffing saw stars while he was hit by the attack...and after he got hit by it, too. Or in short, he had fainted.

"Yes! I've finally won a Pokemon battle!" cheered Ned as James gave him some Pokedollars.

"I've been losing for years..." complained the male Team Rocket grunt.

Meanwhile, Chris was dealing with Jessie and her Ekans.

"I better keep my Spearow away..." noted the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Spearow promptly flew away.

"Jigglypuff, this is your fight." informed Chris.

"Jiggly!" squealed her Jigglypuff.

"Ekans, use Bite!" ordered Jessie.

Jessie's Ekans nodded, and started Biting into Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Oh dear...I don't think it's fun to have fangs sinking into you, is it Jigglypuff? Why don't you try putting it to sleep with that voice of yours..." ordered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and put Jessie's Ekans to sleep.

"Wake up!" bellowed Jessie.

Jessie's Ekans remained asleep.

"Perfect! Now use Pound!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so and pounded into the snake Pokemon.

"I'm telling you to wake up!" demanded Jessie.

Jessie's Ekans' did not stir from her rest.

"You snooze, you lose. Give it another Pound!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff pounded into the snake Pokemon once again...

...and she ended up fainting.

Jessie promptly screamed in rage as she handed Chris some Pokedollars.

"Ninety-nine thousand and five hundred Pokedollars to go." thought the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well, it looks like you two win." said James.

"Yes!" cheered Chris and Ned.

"But guess what? We're still stealing your Pokemon!" exclaimed Jessie.

"What?!" exclaimed the two Pokemon trainers.

The two Team Rocket members immediately ran up to them to snatch their Pokemon.

Immediately, Chris and Ned held on to their Jigglypuff and their Eevee respectively.

In Ned's case, this wasn't enough. In fact, Jessie effortlessly stole the Eevee from his hands.

"No!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" screamed the unfortunate Eevee.

But in Chris's case, this was enough.

"Can't...grab the Jigglypuff...she's...too strong..." murmured James as he tried to take away her Jigglypuff.

"You can't take away her Jigglypuff?" inquired Jessie.

James sadly shook his head.

"Let's just take the Eevee then..." sighed the female Team Rocket grunt.

The male Team Rocket Grunt nodded, and the two of them boarded their hot air balloon with their stolen Eevee in tow.

"What are we going to do?!" exclaimed Ned.

"Relax...I'll think of something...I hope." said Chris.

Suddenly, her Weedle released herself from her Pokeball.

"Er, do you want to help out?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Weedle nodded. Immediately, she fired a String Shot and latched onto Ned's Eevee. Meowth tried to grab onto him, but he was too late.

"No!" exclaimed the trio.

Weedle then handed Ned's Eevee back to his owner.

"Thanks...you're pretty strong for a bug..." noted Ned.

"Weedle!" cheered Chris's Weedle.

Suddenly, Chris noticed that Team Rocket was still getting away.

"Funny...I can't help but get the urge to send them blasting off somehow...but how do I do that?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

On cue, her Spearow started flying up to the hot air balloon.

"What is he doing?" wondered Chris.

He then started pecking into the hot air balloon..and sure enough, he sprung a leak. The hot air balloon started to deflate, and Team Rocket was sent flying.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" exclaimed the trio as they went sent away, leaving behind a sparkle as they did so.

DING!

Chris's Spearow returned to her a few minutes later. Chris promptly used her Pokeball to return it to energy.

Oddly enough, her Jigglypuff seemed somehow traumatized...was she upset that her Spearow had burst another balloon? Fortunately, she got over it a few seconds later.

"Huh, I wonder how that sparkle got there." wondered Ned.

"I personally wondered that too.. Ah well, let's just head to Viridian Forest..." said Chris.

Suddenly, her Weedle began to glow.

"Er, why is she glowing?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"It must be evolving." answered Ned.

"Evolving?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Weedle nodded as she began to cocoon herself.

"Yeah...lots of Pokemon do it...whenever they do so, they become stronger..." pointed out Ned.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, her Weedle finished evolving...but she wasn't actually a Weedle anymore. She was a Kakuna.

"Er, you're a cocoon now?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Her newfound Kakuna nodded as she gave it a scan.

"Kakuna, the Cocoon Pokemon! They harden their shells to protect themselves from predators!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, she sure evolved quickly..." noted Chris.

"Yeah...Weedles evolve fast...I also heard that Caterpies do too, oddly enough...we'll likely have to put more work in if we're going to evolve more Pokemon though..." pointed out Ned.

"Right...er, are any of my other Pokemon capable of evolving?" inquired the tomboy.

"Well, your Spearow should evolve into a Fearow into due time...as for your Jigglypuff, you'll need a Moon Stone." explained Ned.

Suddenly, her Jigglypuff shook her head.

"What? You don't want to evolve?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff explained that she simply wanted to be a star.

"Oh...I see...fine..." answered the tomboy reluctantly. She was hoping that doing so would make her more powerful...but then again, she was stronger than an average Jigglypuff.

"Funnily enough...I don't think my Eevee wants to evolve too...I asked him one day if he wanted a particular elemental stone to evolve into a certain Eeveelution but he declined..." noted Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee.

"I guess he just wants to be normal." answered Chris.

Ned and his Eevee both nodded in agreement.

"Well, off to Pewter City we go." said the male Pokemon trainer.

"Right with ya!" exclaimed the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

And off to Pewter City, they went.

_Well, Chris got a new Pokemon...and it didn't take long to evolve at all. No sirree! It didn't even last one chapter..._

_Of course, it's not going to take Lucy's Caterpie long to evolve too...in fact, she'll be evolving in the next chapter..._

_Oh, and in the same chapter, Chris and Ned will be arriving in Pewter City to challenge the gym leader...but it's not going to go quite the way they expected._


	9. Chapter 9: A First Badge

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Ned and Chris are going to get their first gym badges...hurray! Though it's not going to be because of a Gym battle...it's going to be because of something else...heh heh heh._

_Oh, and Lucy and Jake are going to arrive in Pewter City too and challenge the Gym Leader too...though they'll actually have to use their Pokemon...can't let things be too easy for our heroes now..._

_Also, you're going to get to see why Brock left Professor Ivy. What, were you curious about that?_

**Chapter 9: A First Badge**

Sure enough, Chris and Ned arrived in Pewter City after their encounter with Team Rocket.

"Sheesh...I wonder what the heck was up with those two?" inquired Ned.

"Who cares? We took them down with ease!" exclaimed Chris.

"Yeah...but still, I'm worried that they might try to steal our Pokemon again..." worried the nerd.

"After I sent them flying away with my Spearow?" inquired the tomboy.

"Well yeah, but still!" exclaimed Ned.

"Whatever...let's just head to Pewter City so that we can get our gym badge!" exclaimed Chris.

Curious, Ned decided to see what was on the east side of the city. Sure enough, it led to another Pokemon route.

"Huh, I wonder what's on the other s-

Suddenly, a Pokemon trainer grabbed him by the ear and started dragging him back towards Pewter City.

"Let me go!" demanded Ned.

"Come back when you've got your first Gym badge!" bellowed the guy guarding the way out of Pewter City as he tossed him in front of the gym's entrance.

"Hmm...I guess he's not going to let us through unless we defeat the Gym Leader..." noted Chris.

"What is that guy's problem?!" bellowed Ned.

"As for that...I have no idea." answered Chris.

Curious, Ned decided to read the sign to see who the Gym Leader was. Interestingly enough, unlike the Gym Leader in Viridian City, he did not keep his identity a secret. According to the sign, his name was Brock, and he was a rock-solid Pokemon center.

"I take it that's supposed to be some sort of pun? Because it's not making me laugh." noted the tomboy.

"Yeah...apparently he's a rock-type Gym Leader...for some strange reason, they all specialize in a specific type of Pokemon...I'm not really sure why..." acknowledged the nerd.

"To make it easier for us to defeat them?" inquired Chris.

"It's probably just how the world of Pokemon works I guess..." spoke Ned. "Oddly enough, I heard that the gym leader here is also really flirtacious..."

"Just like you?" answered the tomboy.

"Yeah, pretty much...of course, I also heard that he once worked with a Pokemon professor...I believe her name was Professor Ivy..." noted Ned.

"Do you keep a picture of her in your room?" inquired Chris.

"Why yes I-wait, why are you asking me that?" asked the nerd.

"Just wondering...anyways, if he was formerly an assistant for Professor Ivy...why did he go back to being a Gym Leader?" asked the tomboy.

"I'm not really sure about that to be honest...nowadays he won't even mention her name." explained Ned.

"I wonder why not..." answered Chris curiously.

_Brock was enjoying his job as a Pokemon assistant very much. He got to hang out with Professor Ivy quite a lot, after all...though admittedly it was nice to be able to learn about Pokemon too._

_He was currently waiting for her to return from her research on the local Pokemon inhabiting Orange Islands...for some strange reason, they were the exact same types of Pokemon that lived in Kanto. It was really weird._

_However, as it turns out, he was going to discover something that was going to shock him horribly._

_Sure enough, Professor Ivy returned to her laboratory much like she had done before...but there was someone else with her this time. He looked to be a scientist as well._

_"Er, whose that friend of yours?" inquired Brock._

_"Oh him? He's my boyfriend, Dr. Pine." explained Professor Ivy._

_"What?!" exclaimed the Rock-type gym leader._

_"Pleased to meet you." answered Dr. Pine as he shook._

_Brock's jaw dropped in shock, and one of his eyes squinted._

_"Today's movie night between us...so would you mind looking after my lab a little longer? I've been dating him for six weeks and it's going really well for us..." explained Professor Ivy._

_"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" bellowed Brock at the top of his lungs._

_He immediately ran away from the lab as fast as he could._

_"Funny, I thought he enjoyed working with me." said Professor Ivy._

_"Maybe he finally snapped underneath the pressure?" inquired Dr. Pine._

_"I always thought that I was lenient with him..." spoke the professor._

"Eh, maybe we're better off not knowing." said Chris.

"Probably not...you did say you just wanted to fight the Gym Leader and get on it, am I right?" inquired Ned.

"Yeah, pretty much. Let's go get our gym badges!" exclaimed the tomboy.

The nerdy Pokemon trainer nodded in agreement as they entered the gym.

Sure enough, the Gym Leader was waiting for them inside.

"Hello there! I take it you two are here to get your first Gym badge?" inquired Brock.

"We would have gotten one sooner...but the Viridian City gym was closed..." said Ned.

"Ah yes...the Gym Leader never seems to be there when you need them to, am I right?" asked Brock.

Ned nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, it's time for our Gym b-"

Brock was cut off when suddenly he noticed that there was a pretty girl with Ned...and just like that, he had a sudden change in character.

"You are so beautiful! I can't believe I've gotten the opportunity to meet someone like you! This is the best day of my life!" exclaimed Brock.

"What the-" inquired Chris.

"Please tell me your name!" demanded the Rock-type gym leader.

"Um, it's Christine...but call me Chris." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

For some strange reason, Ned felt the strange urge to yell at Brock for the way he was behaving...but he wasn't quite sure why given that was the way that he typically interacted around girls himself.

"Um, listen...we're here for a gym b-"

"Say no more!" exclaimed Brock as he handed Chris a Boulder Badge and some cash.

"Er, can I have a badge too?" inquired Ned.

"Anything for a friend of a pretty girl!" exclaimed the Gym Leader as he did the same for Ned.

Chris and Ned walked out of the gym a few minutes later.

"Well, that gym was a disappointment." noted Chris.

"At least we finally have our first gym badge." spoke Ned.

"True...but I sure hope that the rest of the Gym Leaders put up more of a fight than he did..." complained the tomboy.

"Funny, I heard that Brock was actually the weakest Gym leader in Kanto..." noted the nerd.

"Why doesn't that surprise me..." spoke Chris.

"Well, hopefully that guy standing guard right outside the city will let us through now..." said Ned.

"Right..." answered the tomboy.

_Now let's check on our other heroes..._

As it turns out, two Bug Catchers had decided to pick a fight with Lucy and Jake on their way to Pewter City.

"Let's get them, Caterpie!" exclaimed one of the Bug Catchers. This particular one had decided to pick a fight with Lucy.

Lucy decided to send out her own Caterpie for this battle.

"Caterpie!" cheered Lucy's Caterpie.

"Caterpie, use Tackle!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Caterpie nodded and started tackling into her opponent.

However, the Bug Catcher decided to make his Caterpie do the same.

"Caterpie, use Tackle!" demanded the Bug Catcher.

"Caterpie!" exclaimed the enemy Caterpie as he pummeled into Lucy's Caterpie.

"Caterpie, use String Shot!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Caterpie did as she was asked, but as before the Bug Catcher decided to do the same thing.

"Caterpie, use String Shot!" ordered the bug catcher.

"Caterpie!" bellowed the enemy Caterpie as he tied up Lucy's Caterpie.

"Hmm...I'm starting to get the feeling that we're in a stalemate...should I send out my Pidgey?" murmured Lucy.

However, her Caterpie had a different idea in mind. She suddenly began to glow.

"What?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turns out, she was evolving into a Metapod.

"Well, this might put me at an advantage...heh heh." noted Lucy.

Immediately, her opponent asked his Caterpie if he could so the same.

"Caterpie?" inquired his Caterpie.

The bug catcher promptly sighed. It looks like he was out of luck.

Lucy gave her new Metapod a scan.

"Metapod, the Cocoon Pokemon. Its vulnerable to attack while its shell is soft, exposing its tender body." explained the Pokedex.

"Let's hope that its shell hardens up soon then." noted Lucy.

As if on cue, her new Metapod began to Harden itself.

"Metapod!" exclaimed Lucy's Metapod.

Unfortunately for the Bug Catcher's Caterpie, he was unable to penetrate the Metapod's shell.

"C'mon! You can do it!" exclaimed the Bug Catcher.

But as it turned out, it could not, and it collapsed from exhaustion.

The Bug Catcher accepted his loss, and handed Lucy a small amount of cash.

Meanwhile, Jake was squaring off after another Bug Catcher who as it turned out had a Weedle.

He decided to send out his Rattata for the fight.

"Go, Rattata!" exclaimed Jake.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the Mouse Pokemon.

"Weedle, use Poison Sting!" exclaimed the Bug Catcher.

Weedle promptly did so and hit Rattata with his horn.

"Rattata, use Tackle!" exclaimed Jake.

His Rattata did as he was asked, and pummeled into the opposing Weedle. The Hairy Bug Pokemon promptly began to feel woozy.

"Weedle, use String Shot!" bellowed the Bug Catcher.

His Weedle did as he commanded, and started stringing up his adversary.

But as it turns out, this wasn't too effective, as the Mouse Pokemon simply gnawed his way through the string.

"Way to go, Rattata!" cheered Jake.

The Bug Catcher tried to have his Weedle use Poison Sting again, but Jake's Rattata beat him to the punch with a new technique he had learned.

Immediately, he hit the Weedle with a rapid attack, causing him to faint.

"Good to see you're learning new techniques, Rattata...I suppose we shold try using Quick Attack in the future...though in retrospect you're already fast..." informed Jake.

His Rattata nodded in agreement.

The Bug Catcher sighed and handed Jake a few Pokedollars.

A few minutes later, they were out of the forest...and soon enough, they arrived in Pewter City.

"Well, this is a nice city." noted Lucy.

"You think there's a gym nearby?" questioned Jake.

"I don't know...let's ask that guy standing in front of that exit over there..." stated the female Pokemon trainer.

But as the two of them found out, the guy guarding the way out of Pewter City wasn't a nice guy. In fact, he sent them both flying with his Machamp.

"Aah!" Lucy and Jake both screamed as they were sent flying.

"Come back with the Boulder Badge or else!" bellowed the vicious Pokemon trainer.

"Machamp!" yelled the vicious Pokemon trainer's Machamp.

Fortunately, due to anime and video game physics, they were unharmed completely...and as they discovered, there was in fact a gym in this town.

"Well, this seems like a good place for us to start collecting badges..." stated Lucy.

"If you say so..." noted Jake.

"Besides, that guy standing in guard isn't really giving us a choice..." informed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Good point." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

The two of them promptly entered the Pewter City Gym to obtain their badge.

Sure enough, Brock was waiting them in the gym...but as he turns out, he was distracted.

"She was so pretty...I wish I had gotten to know her better..." said Brock.

"Um...excuse me!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What? Oh, hi. Are you here for the Gym Badge? I kind of got distracted..." said the Rock-type Gym Leader.

Lucy and Jake both nodded.

"Right...well then, ladies first!" exclaimed Brock.

Lucy nodded as she stepped into the arena with him.

Sure enough, there was a referee waiting for them. He decided to give Lucy a few words of advice.

"Alright...here's a suggestion for you...don't go around using flying-types in this gym! They won't do well against rock-types, trust me." explained the referee.

"Are you a coach?" inquired Lucy.

"Something like that...the Pokemon League hired me and my seven brothers to give advice to trainers on how to beat the gyms..." explained the gym instructor.

"Oh." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Of course, I'll also be serving as the referee...so don't go whining if I decide that you've lost the battle, will you?" inquired the referee.

Lucy nodded.

Immediately, Brock sent out his Geodude.

"Go, Geodude!" exclaimed the rock specialist.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

Curious, Lucy decided to give it a scan.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokemon. It keeps being mistaken for boulders...try not to trip over them." warned Lucy's Pokedex.

The Geodude nodded his head in agreement. That was such a pain.

"I suppose using my Pidgey in this gym won't be the smartest idea in the world...I guess I'll use my Metapod." said Lucy.

Immediately, she chose her Metapod to represent her in the Gym battle.

"Metapod!" exclaimed Lucy's Metapod.

"You do realize that Bug Pokemon are weak to Rock Pokemon too, right?" inquired the referee.

"Aww!" complained the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Be careful out there!" warned Jake.

Fortunately, as it turns out, Brock's Geodude did not actually know any rock-type moves yet...so it was a fair fight.

"Darn it! I should really do something about that...ah well, Geodude, use Tackle!" exclaimed Brock.

Geodude nodded and started tackling into Lucy's Metapod. Thankfully, due to his high defense, this didn't hurt her too much.

"Metapod, use Harden!" exclaimed Lucy.

Metapod promptly hardened herself to protect herself from Geodude.

"Geodude, use Defense Curl!" ordered Brock in retaliation.

Brock's Geodude curled itself up to increase his defense.

"Er, you wouldn't happen to know the old moves you had as a Caterpie, do you? Try using Tackle." inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Metapod nodded. It did in fact remembered the moves it had learned as a Caterpie, and launched herself at Geodude.

But as it turned out, this wasn't very effective against Geodude.

"Geodude?" said Brock's Geodude. Was that attack supposed to pack a wallop?

"Er, it looks like we might be at a stalemate..." said Lucy.

Fortunately as it turns out, her Metapod was evolving yet again.

"Strange...isn't this the second time today that you're evolving?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Metapod?" inquired Lucy's Metapod. She just wanted to show her appreciation for her trainer for taking her in when pretty much every other female Pokemon trainer would not.

"I guess she just can't wait to evolve into her final stage, I guess." noted Jake.

As it turns out, Lucy's Metapod was a beautiful Butterfree now...she must have felt like celebrating, because all of a sudden she began to fly all across the gym.

"I'll take that as a yes." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Butterfree!" cheered Lucy's Butterfree.

And as it turns out, she had a new move to go with it...she promptly launched a psychic at Geodude, causing him to feel very dizzy.

"Geodude!" exclaimed his Geodude. Apparently, his special defenses weren't nearly as high as his regular defenses were.

"Geodude, use Defense Curl!" bellowed Brock.

Geodude did as he was told...but as it turned out, his trainer had forgotten something important.

"Darn it! I forgot that Confusion is a special attack...raising my Geodude's defense won't do him any good at all!" thought Brock.

"Use another Confusion!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Butterfree!" cheered Lucy's Butterfree.

Lucy's Butterfree launched another Confusion at Geodude. And this time, he ended up being confused.

"Er, what's happening? Your Geodude looks rather dizzy..." wondered Lucy.

The referee then explained that the Geodude was confused...and may or may not beat himself up.

"OK..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Geodude, use Tackle!" exclaimed Brock.

Unfortunately for Brock, his Geodude ended up punching himself in the face instead...and with swirls in his eyes.

Brock sighed as he recalled his Geodude.

"So far you're doing rather well...but can you defeat my Onix?" inquired Brock.

He immediately sent out his Onix. Lucy and her Clefairy both gasped in shock.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Wow! This Pokemon's huge!" bellowed Lucy.

She gave the Rock Snake Pokemon a scan.

"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokemon. It can move through the ground at fifty miles per hour." explained the Pokedex.

Lucy's Butterfree began to feel very nervous.

"Butterfree, use Confusion!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Her Butterfree did so, causing damage to Onix...but he was quick to retaliate.

"Use Rock Tomb!" demanded Brock.

Sure enough, Lucy's Butterfree ended up being crushed by falling rocks...and since she had a quadruple type disadvantage now...this made short work of her.

"Aw, man..." said the female Pokemon trainer as she returned her Buttefree. At least she managed to take out Brock's Geodude before she went.

Knowing that using Pidgey against the rock snake Pokemon would be a bad idea, she decided to send out her Clefairy.

"Here goes." said Lucy as her Clefairy detached herself from her back.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed her Clefairy.

"Funny...I heard that they live at Mt. Moon, I go there collecting fossils..." noted Brock.

"That's nice." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, several rocks fell on top of Lucy's Clefairy...though thankfully she was OK.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy, rubbing her head.

"Clefairy, use Pound!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded...but since Onix was a rock Pokemon and had a high defense...this didn't do her much good.

"Clefairy..." said the unfortunate Fairy Pokemon sadly.

"Onix, use Bind!" ordered Brock.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

His Onix immediately wrapped himself around Lucy's Clefairy...who all of a sudden found herself being crushed.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy as she was trapped in the Rock Snake's coils.

She began to wonder if she should surrender.

"Looks like I have this one in the bag..." thought Brock.

But as it turns out, her Clefairy had one last trick up her sleeve...

...suddenly, her Clefairy's hands began to glow white.

"Hmm?" wondered Lucy.

Shortly afterwards...for some strange reason, she began to gather sunlight...

"What the-" thought Brock.

And a few seconds later...her Clefairy shot a high-power Solar Beam right in Brock's Onix's face.

"Onix!" bellowed Brock's Onix as he was struck.

Immediately, he fell unconscious to the floor.

Brock gasped in shock at what had happened to his Onix...of course, he wasn't exactly sure what had happened.

"Er, how did my Clefairy do that?" inquired Lucy.

"Er, I think it knows Metronome now...it lets Pokemon use any move in existence...though it's random what move they pick...I heard that Clefairy can learn that from their parents..." noted Jake.

"Clefairy..." spoke Lucy's Clefairy. She was personally glad that her Clefable parents had taught her that technique...it could come in handy in the near future.

"Wow..." thought Lucy.

"Lucy Hisakawa has won the gym battle!" exclaimed the referee.

"How'd you know my last name?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Aren't you part of a famous family?" asked the couch.

"Oh, right." noted Lucy.

Brock gave Lucy her first badge and some prize money a few seconds later.

"Well, I'm still not sure how your Clefairy pulled that off...but since you won, you deserve this." said the gym leader.

"Thanks! One down, seven to go!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What about me?" inquired Jake.

"You'll be up after I get my Pokemon healed at Nurse Joy...I can't believe how cute she is!" exclaimed Brock.

"Right..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well then...I believe the referee explained not to use flying-types, am I right?" inquired Brock.

Jake nodded his head.

"Alright then...go Geodude!" exclaimed Brock.

"Geodude!" exclaimed his Geodude as he emerged from his trainer's Pokeball.

"I'll send out Rattata." said Jake.

Sure enough, his Rattata came out of his Pokeball.

"Rattata!" he exclaimed.

Immediately, Jake ordered his Rattata to use Quick Attack...

...but as it turns out, he had a problem. His attacks weren't doing much damage to Geodude.

"Geodude?" inquired Brock's Geodude. Why was he using Normal attacks? Everyone knew that Rock Pokemon resisted them...

"Geodude, use Tackle!" exclaimed Brock.

His Geodude did as he was told, ramming into Jake's unfortunate Rattata.

"Try using Tackle." ordered his Rattata.

His Rattata did as he was asked...but once more, he didn't do much damage.

"Geodude?" inquired Brock's Geodude. He simply wasn't really feeling the attacks despite how fast his opponent was.

As before, Brock had his Geodude hit Rattata with a Tackle...this time he looked to be tiring out.

"Uh-oh..." thought Jake.

"Try using Tail Whip!" he exclaimed.

Rattata did so to lower Geodude's defense...

...but it was too late, as Geodude used Tackle to take him down.

"Well, this isn't a good start..." noted Jake as he recalled his Rattata.

Of course, his only other Pokemon currently on hand was his Grimer.

"Off you go, buddy!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt as he sent out his sludge Pokemon.

"Grimer!" exclaimed his Grimer as he was freed from his Pokeball.

"Use Poison Gas!" ordered Jake.

Grimer did as he was told...and ended up poisoning Geodude.

"Geodude..." murmured Brock's Geodude. All of a sudden, he was feeling woozy.

"Geodude, use Tackle!" demanded his trainer.

Geodude promptly tackled into Grimer, taking the breath out of him.

"Grimer!" exclaimed his Grimer.

Fortunately, he had a new trick up his sleeve...all of a sudden, he slapped mud into Geodude's eyes.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the Geodude as he tried to get the mud out his eyes. Apparently, this move was super-effective against him.

Jake was glad that his Grimer had learned a new move...but he personally wished it were more powerful. At least it was better than Sand-Attack.

"Keep using it!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt. Might as well make the best of what he had, right?

Jake's Grimer did as he was told, causing Brock's Geodude to become more inaccurate.

"Use Tackle!" demanded Brock.

Brock's Geodude did so...but he missed.

Jake kept on using this strategy to make his opposing Geodude less and less accurate...and all the while, the poison he had inflicted was causing him to feel more and more weak...

Eventually, he fainted on the spot.

"Good job, Geodude...you did your best." said Brock as he recalled his Geodude.

"I'm taking it I'll be facing your Onix now?" inquired Jake nervously.

Brock nodded his head.

"OK..." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, the rock-type Gym Leader released his Onix from his Pokeball.

Jake's Grimer promptly whimpered.

"Grimer..." worried the sludge Pokemon.

"Onix, use Bind!" exclaimed Brock.

Brock's Onix did as he was told...but since Grimer was made of sludge, he could simply slip his way through.

"Oh, right..." recalled Brock.

"Grimer, use Poison Gas!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Grimer did as he was told...but since his opponent was so big, this didn't hurt him too much.

"Onix?" inquired the opposing Onix.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb!" ordered Brock.

Brock's Onix did so...and Jake's Grimer found himself being buried in stones. This must have done quite a bit of damage, because he came out feeling dizzy.

"Use Mud Slap again!" exclaimed Jake in desperation.

Jake's Grimer did so, hurling mud in the eyes of Brock's Onix.

But this wasn't nearly enough to take him down.

"Use Rock Tomb again!" ordered Brock.

Brock's Onix dropped rocks on Jake's Grimer too more. This time, he simply could not stand having so many rocks falling on him at once...

...and he fainted.

"No!" exclaimed Jake as he returned his Grimer to his Pokeball.

"Brock has won the gym battle!" exclaimed the referee.

"Try again next time." encouraged Brock as Jake and Lucy left the gym.

The Team Rocket Grunt promptly sighed to himself. Was being a Pokemon trainer really for him?

And to make matters worse...the guard outside the exit apparently still wasn't going to let him leave Pewter City...he was in fact giving him the evil eye.

"How am I going to get my first Gym badge if I can't defeat a Gym Leader?" he wondered.

_Oh dear! It looks like Jake has lost his first gym Leader battle! Well, at least Lucy managed to win...but how is the Team Rocket Grunt going to defeat Brock?_

_You'll find out in the next chapter...where he'll be having his rematch...oh, and Chris and Ned will be heading to Mt. Moon._


	10. Chapter 10: Mankey Business

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jake is going to get a new Pokemon to help him defeat Brock...you can probably guess which one by the chapter title...will it be enough for him to defeat the rock-type Gym Leader this time?_

_Oh, and Chris and Ned are going to catch some new Pokemon too...and battle some Pokemon trainers...we'll also get to see a certain trio of Pokemon trainers again...though they won't be a crazy ambush in this chapter..._

**Chapter 10: Mankey Business**

Lucy decided to scan her new Butterfree...surely her Pokedex had something interesting to say about it.

"Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokemon. It flaps its wings at high speed in battle to release toxic dust."

"Funny, I don't recall it being a Poison type..." noted Lucy.

"Butterfree?" inquired Lucy's Butterfree. She didn't remember that either.

"Hmm...it also says here that you're fully evolved now...that's good to know...though I wonder if I should try to do the same for my other Pokemon..." spoke the girl.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"What, you're not interested in becoming a Clefable?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" answered the Fairy Pokemon. According to her, she wasn't really interested in using evolutionary stones to make herself more powerful...and besides, becoming a Clefable would make it harder for her to fit into her spaceship.

"Right..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turns out, they were standing outside the Pokemon League entrance...Jake was feeling rather depressed and they had thus decided to take a walk there. Not only had he failed to get the gym badge, he had to pay the gym leader some of his hard-earned cash since he lost.

"You know...my father told me that the prize for winning the Indigo Plateau Conference was just a simple trophy..." said Jake.

"What? Don't say that! If you manage to win the tournament, everyone will look up to you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Being famous isn't everything, you know." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"True...but don't you think winning the Indigo Plateau Conference would be exciting?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's probably just wishful thinking..." spoke Jake.

"Hmm..." wondered Lucy.

Unbeknownst to the two Pokemon trainers, they had attracted the attention of a wild Mankey.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the wild Mankey.

"Er, what was that?" inquired Lucy.

"Is there a Pokemon here?" questioned Jake.

"I heard that there were a few of them on the way here..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, the wild Mankey jumped right in front of them.

"Oh, I guess that's one of them now." noted Jake. Curious, he gave the Mankey a scan.

"Mankey, the Pig Monkey Pokemon. It is extremely short-tempered and very agile." explained the Pokedex.

According to the Pokedex, this wild Mankey was male.

"I wonder what he wants from us?" wondered Lucy.

The wild Mankey noticed the hat that Jake was wearing...and all of a sudden, he wanted to try it out.

Out of nowhere, he snatched it off of the Team Rocket Grunt's head.

"What the heck?! Give that back!" exclaimed Jake.

Unfortunately, the wild Mankey was not a very good listener...he simply ignored Jake and started running away.

"That little thief...I should teach him a lesson..." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, he started to roll up his sleeves...but Lucy stopped him.

"Jake, wait!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What is it? I need to get my hat back..." said Jake.

"Didn't you hear what your Pokedex said? It says that Mankeys are short-tempered!" warned Lucy.

"Oh right...so I shouldn't make him angry?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I don't think you'll like him when he's angry." pointed out Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded in agreement.

"Oh...so I should try to keep him calm then?" asked Jake.

"Sounds good to me." answered Lucy.

"I guess I'll have to ask nicely then..." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

"You know it's funny...I never really noticed that you had green hair before...your hat usually covers your hair pretty well." noted Lucy.

"Yes I know...I got it from my dad." answered Jake.

"Oh, that's nice." noted Lucy.

Jake reached forward into his bag to get something to exchange his hat with. Sure enough, there was a banana.

"Perfect!" he thought.

Fortunately for Jake, the wild Mankey had not wandered off very far. He was still admiring his new ill-gotten hat.

"Er, hi there buddy!" greeted Jake nervously.

"Mankey?" inquired the wild Mankey.

"In case you haven't noticed...that hat kind of belongs to me...but if you hand it over, I'll give you a banana." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, he was holding the banana in his hands.

The wild Mankey scratched his head. What he promised seemed to be a fair offer...but he really enjoyed his new hat.

Of course, he also really enjoyed eating bananas...but bananas didn't last forever. His hat on the other hand would last quite a while.

Suddenly, he noticed that he appeared to be a Pokemon trainer...the wild Mankey had noticed many of them entering the Indigo Plateau Conference in order to try out for the tournament.

He in fact wondered if he should try participating...

...suddenly, he got an idea.

Immediately, he returned the hat to Jake.

"Thanks for being generous...though you really shouldn't steal other people's belongings." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Mankey." answered the wild Mankey as he accepted his banana. He figured that he should probably avoid doing so in the future...though he had to admit, he did love wearing hats.

Of course, he also looked forward to becoming a trained Pokemon...so he could finally enter the Indigo Plateau Conference.

After he finished his banana, he promptly started shaking his fist at Jake.

"Er, did I offend you?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt. "I'm sorry if I did..."

The wild Mankey shook his head.

"Oh...do you want a Pokemon battle with me or something?" inquired Jake.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the pig monkey Pokemon.

"I'll take that as a yes...but is this one on one or can I use both of my Pokemon? Just wondering..." said the Team Rocket Grunt.

The wild Mankey raised two of his fingers.

"Oh, I can use both then...sounds good." said Jake.

Immediately, he released his Rattata from his Pokeball.

"Here I go!" exclaimed Jake.

"Rattata!" cheered the Mouse Pokemon.

Suddenly, Lucy walked up to him.

"I take it you got your hat back?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes I did...but now the Mankey wants a duel with me...apparently he wants me to be his Pokemon trainer or something..." said Jake.

"That's sweet." noted the female Pokemon trainer. "You might want to pick a better Pokemon for the battle though..."

"Hmm?" wondered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"According to my Pokedex...Rattata's a Normal type Pokemon...and Normal type Pokemon are weak against Fighting Pokemon...just like Mankey here..." warned Lucy.

Sure enough, Jake noticed that his Rattata was having a hard time against Mankey, who was busy trying to Low Kick him.

"Oh dear...I might want to pick a different Pokemon then..." said Jake.

Immediately, he recalled his Rattata.

"Mankey?" inquired the Pig Monkey.

"Let's hope that this is a better choice..." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt as he sent out his Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Grimer.

"That's more like it...according to the Pokedex...Grimer here is resistant to Fighting-type attacks..." explained Lucy.

"Really?" inquired Jake.

Sure enough, the wild Mankey tried Low Kicking once more...but Jake's Grimer hardly felt it.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer.

"Try using Poison Gas! This should help me catch him..." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded and bombarded the unfortunate Mankey with his nasty gas... all of a sudden, the monkey Pokemon began to feel sick.

"Mankey..." murmured the wild Mankey.

As before, the Mankey tried attacking his Grimer, but unfortunately due to the fact that he was made of sludge his attacks simply weren't having much of an effect on him.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's Grimer. It looked like he was going to win today.

And indeed he was, because his owner decided to toss a Pokeball. The wild Mankey was poisoned after all...and he was going to faint eventually sooner or later.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Jake as he tossed his Pokeball.

Though the Mankey struggled fairly aggressively, it wasn't enough to break free of the Pokeball, and eventually...

...he was caught.

"Alright!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

After taking his three Pokemon to the Pokemon Center...Jake decided to check out his new Pokemon.

"Hi there little buddy! Welcome to the team!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Mankey!" cheered Jake's newfound Mankey. Oddly enough, though his species was known to be short-tempered, he appeared to be fairly friendly now, as he promptly shook Jake's hand.

Because he was feeling rather nice (even though the Mankey had stolen his hat earlier), he decided to give him another banana.

Jake's Mankey promptly cheered.

"He sure loves bananas, doesn't he?" noted Lucy.

"I heard that Mankeys also love chestnuts...though they never seem to be able to peel them." spoke Jake.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed something interesting on her Pokedex.

"Funny, it says here that Fighting-type Pokemon are super-effective against Rock-types...you think he can help you with your rematch against Brock?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Maybe...he'll have to be fairly strong if he wants to stand a chance, though." noted Jake.

Suddenly, Jake's Mankey lifted Lucy into the air.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake was rather annoyed.

"Be nice to my friends, Mankey. She didn't do anything to you." explained Jake.

"Mankey?" inquired Jake's Mankey. He just wanted to show off his strength.

The monkey Pokemon set Lucy down on the floor.

"Well, I guess you are fairly strong then...let's go challenge the Gym Leader, shall we?" asked the Team Rocket Grunt, who was now feeling more confident on himself.

"Mankey!" cheered Jake's Mankey. He was looking forward to a challenge...and fighting a Gym Leader would fit the bill.

And so the two of them headed back to Pewter City.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, are you ready for your rematch? I have to admit, you did fairly well considering that both of your Pokemon had type disadvantages..." said Brock.

"Yeah...I kind of rectified that since our last encounter..." explained Jake.

"Good for you. So, are you ready?" inquired Brock.

"Yes, I am." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Thought so. Go, Geodude!" exclaimed the Rock-type Gym Leader.

"Geodude!" yelled Brock's Geodude. Apparently he was looking forward for his rematch.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

Sure enough, his Grimer came out of his Pokeball.

"You're not sending out your Rattata first this time?" inquired Brock.

"I caught another Pokemon while you were gone...so I won't be using him this time." explained Jake.

"Oh..." acknowledged the gym leader.

"Grimer, use Poison Gas!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Grimer!" bellowed the slimy Pokemon.

Immediately, Geodude found himself poisoned once more.

"Geodude..." murmured Brock's Geodude. Not again...

"Use Defense Curl!" ordered Brock.

Geodude curled himself into a ball, but he took damage from the poison.

"Now use Mudslap!" exclaimed Jake.

As before, Grimer hurled mud in Geodude's face.

"Geodude!" exclaimed Brock's Geodude, who found himself with mud in his eyes once more.

"You can do this!" cheered Lucy.

Jake smiled. He was glad that she was cheering him on this time...maybe this would help him win?

"Geodude, use Tackle!" ordered Brock.

Unfortunately, Geodude missed.

"Grime!" cheered Jake's Grimer.

"Try using it again." ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so and hurled sand into Geodude's eyes.

"Geodude, use Defense Curl!" ordered Brock.

His Geodude once more curled up into a ball to increase his defense...but the poison was wearing him down.

"Grimer, use Mud-Slap!" demanded Jake.

Grimer did as he was asked...causing Geodude to once again lose accuracy.

"Geodude, use Tackle!" ordered Brock.

Geodude did so...but once again he missed...and at that very moment, he collapsed on the floor.

"Well, time to send out Onix again." said the Rock-type Gym Leader as he recalled his Geodude.

Sure enough, he sent Onix.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon

"Use Poison Gas, Grimer!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer once again poisoned his opposing Pokemon...this time, he seemed a bit more successful than before...though Onix still wasn't too poisoned.

"I guess he got a little stronger from that battle with Mankey..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Onix, use Bind!" ordered Brock.

Onix did so...but as before, Jake's Grimer simply slithered his way out of it.

"Not again..." thought the Rock-type Gym Leader.

"Use Mud-Slap!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded, and hit Onix in the eyes with some mud, lowering his accuracy.

"Use Rock Tomb!" demanded Brock.

Brock's Onix did so, burying Grimer in rocks. Thankfully, though he was significantly injured, he was still able to fight.

"Use Mud-Slap again!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, kicking more mud into Brock's Onix's eyes.

Once again, Brock ordered Onix to use Rock Tomb...but this time he missed.

"I'm sure you know what I want you to do by now." noted Jake.

Once again, Jake's Grimer used Mud-Slap.

"Bury it in Rock Tomb! And try not to miss this time..." ordered Brock.

Brock's Onix did so...and this time, his mark was true, and Jake's Grimer went down.

"Well, now to try out my new Pokemon." said Jake as he sent out his new Mankey.

"Mankey!" cheered Jake's Mankey.

Brock realized that he might be in trouble. As he was well-aware, Rock-types weren't the best types to defeat Fighting-types in the world.

"Try using Bind!" ordered Brock.

Brock's Onix did so...but since Jake's Mankey was rather strong, it didn't take too much effort for him to break free.

"Uh-oh..." the Gym Leader thought.

In fact, this only seemed to make him mad.

"Mankey!" bellowed the angry pig monkey Pokemon.

"Try using Low Kick!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Mankey did as his trainer told him to do...which had rather satisfying results.

"Onix!" bellowed Brock's Onix as he fell on the floor. Though he managed to get up again, he had the breath knocked out of him from the attack...and of course, the poison that Grimer had left him with was starting to take effect.

"Not good..." thought Brock.

Getting desperate, Brock told his Onix to try to harden himself.

"Onix!" exclaimed Brock's Onix as he did so.

Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for him.

"Use Low Kick again!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Mankey did so, and this time, Brock's Onix did not get up...he had swirls in his eyes.

Jake promptly cheered. He had won this time!

Brock promptly returned Onix to his Pokeball.

"Jake Kurosawa has won the battle!" bellowed the referee.

"Good to see you didn't give up after the first time." noted Brock as he handed Jake his Boulder Badge and some prize money.

"I was tempted to...but I didn't." answered Jake, looking at Lucy as he did so.

"Alright! Let's go get some more badges!" squealed Lucy.

Jake and Lucy promptly exited the gym, Jake restoring his Pokemon back to full health at the Pokemon center immediately after they did so.

"I've got two Pokemon for you to heal...well, maybe just one." answered Jake, noting how his Mankey wasn't really injured fighting Brock.

Nurse Joy nodded as she healed the two Pokemon.

After they had left the Pokemon center, they both noticed that the guy guarding the way out of the city had mysteriously vanished.

"I wonder he went off to?" questioned Lucy.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered Jake.

_"If you don't come back with a badge, my Machamp's going to pulverize you!" bellowed the guarding trainer._

_"Machamp!" bellowed the guarding trainer's Machamp_

_"But I just want to see what's on the other side..." complained the victim Pokemon trainer._

_"Too bad! You're not getting through without the Boulder Badge!" bellowed the guarding trainer._

_"What is going on here?!" screeched Officer Jenny._

_"Um, hi?" asked the guarding trainer nervously._

_"Sheesh...I came to Pewter City hearing that Team Rocket were at Mt. Moon, and already I've caught a criminal on the way there..." said Officer Jenny as he stuck handcuffs on the offending trainer's wrists._

_"Thank you so much!" cheered the trainer._

_"You're welcome...why did he want you to have a Boulder Badge anyway?" inquired Officer Jenny._

_"Maybe because he never got one of those himself?" asked the trainer._

_The guarding trainer promptly whimpered._

"Say...I heard that there's a museum here...can we go before we leave? I just want to check it out..." asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Sure..." answered Jake. Why not?

Interesting enough, right outside the museum was a man selling hats...apparently, these were to show that you were a fan of Pokemon fossils and whatnot.

Suddenly, remembering how much his Mankey liked hats, Jake got an idea.

"Can I have one?" inquired Jake, handing some Pokedollars to the hat seller.

"Sure!" exclaimed the hat seller.

He then sent out his Mankey.

"Mankey?" inquired Jake's Mankey.

"I want you to have this...since you helped me get the Boulder Badge." said Jake as he handed Mankey the museum hat.

"Mankey!" cheered the Pig Monkey as he tried it on.

Jake promptly returned Mankey to his Pokeball as Jake and Lucy entered the museum.

_Meanwhile at Route 3..._

"Sheesh...this battle is taking forever." noted Chris.

As it turned out, she was in a battle with a Bug Catcher with her Kakuna, who as it incidentally turned out was using one as well.

Neither of them had been able to make much headway, since their Poison Sting attacks didn't do much damage to each other.

"Would one of you hurry up and evolve already?" asked Chris.

Suddenly, her Kakuna began to evolve.

"Kakuna!" cheered Chris's Kakuna.

"Finally..." answered Chris.

Sure enough, standing in place of her former Kakuna was now a Beedrill.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed Chris's Beedrill.

"Beedrill, the Poison Bee Pokémon! It can attack using the venomous stingers on its forelegs and tail!" explained the Pokedex.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, her Beedrill began to strike the Kakuna with her new Fury Attack.

Unfortunately for the Bug Catcher, his Kakuna decided not to do the same.

"C'mon! Evolve!" ordered the bug catcher.

"Kakuna?" inquired the bug catcher's Kakuna. Why should he hurry himself? He had all the time in the world, basically.

Then it ended up being struck five times in a row with Fury Attack, and realized why his trainer wanted him to evolve.

"Kakuna..." murmured the opposing Kakuna as he fainted.

"Dang nabbit!" screamed the bug catcher.

"Come back to me when you've evolved your Kakuna." answered Chris as the bug catcher handed her some Pokedollars.

Meanwhile, Ned was trying to catch a Nidoran...a girl Nidoran.

"Eevee, use Tackle!" ordered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Eevee did so, pummeling into the opposing Nidoran.

"Nidoran..." murmured the female Nidoran, who was feeling weak.

"Pokeball time!" exclaimed Ned as he tossed the Pokeball at the female Pokemon.

Sure enough, after a brief struggle, the girl Nidoran was caught.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Ned.

Unfortunately for Ned, his Pokemon had been poisoned during the battle thanks to the girl Nidoran's poisonous barbs.

"Eevee..." murmured Ned's poisoned Eevee. He was feeling rather weak.

"Nidoran!" bellowed a boy Nidoran.

Unfortunately for the nerd Pokemon trainer, as it turns out, she had a friend. He looked rather angry that Ned had used his Eevee to take her down.

"Um, hi?" asked Ned nervously.

Immediately, the male Nidoran wanted to jab him with his horn. Ned promptly screamed like a little girl once again.

"Chris, help me!" bellowed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Chris arrived on the scene a few seconds after he had called her. She promptly sighed realizing what Ned had gotten himself into.

"Can't you just use your Eevee?" inquired the tomboy.

"He's been poisoned!" bellowed Ned.

Chris sighed.

"Guess I'm going to have to be your princess Charming then...you little wimp." spoke the female Pokemon trainer as she sent out her Spearow.

As it turns out, like her Beedrill, her Spearow had a few new tricks up his sleeve.

Immediately, he pummeled the opposing male Nidoran with his new Fury Attack.

"He sure has gotten angry..." noted Chris.

The male Nidoran could not take this prolonged assault, and pretty soon he was weak.

Chris seized the opportunity to throw a Pokeball...and then he was caught.

"So, did you catch a new Pokemon?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"I caught a girl Nidoran..." answered the male Pokemon trainer. "I think that's why he got mad at me..."

"Oh...how ironic..." noted Chris.

They decided to give each other's Nidoran a scan. Oddly enough, their Pokedex entries were more or less than same.

"Nidoran, the Poison Pin Pokemon. The larger their horns, the stronger their venom is." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Nidoran, the Poison Pin Pokemon! It may be small, but its poison barbs are still dangerous!" noted Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, off to Mt. Moon we go." explained Chris.

"Shouldn't we stop at the Pokemon Center first? There's one right over there." noted Ned.

Chris promptly sighed.

"Fine..." answered the tomboy.

_Meanwhile at Rocket Hideout..._

"So, did you manage to find my grunt? And grab the girl?" inquired Giovanni.

"I'm afraid not...Officer Jenny got in the way, so we had to bolt." explained James.

"Officer Jenny...of course it would be Officer Jenny." answered the head of Team Rocket.

"And to make matters worse, we got sent blasting off after we tried going after another duo of Pokemon trainers..." explained Jessie.

"Meowth...that's right..." continued Meowth, recalling how one of the trainer's Spearows had pecked a hole in their hot air balloon.

"Did they have valuable Pokemon? And what did they look like?" inquired Giovanni.

"Well, they had a Jigglypuff and a Eevee..." noted James.

"One was dressed in black while the other was wearing a labcoat..." explained Jessie.

"I see...I suppose those Pokemon of theirs would make us a fair sum of cash...but I'll be sending more experienced Team Rocket Grunts for that particular task...seeing though you lost so horribly to them." explained the big cheese.

"Not them!" exclaimed James.

"Why do you always have to do this to us?!" screamed Jessie.

"Yeah!" bellowed Meowth.

"Because they are actually competent at their jobs...which unfortunately I cannot say the same for you. But as for the rich girl and the grunt...since I actually enjoy watching you fail nowadays, I'll be giving you one more chance." explained Giovanni.

"You will? Great!" exclaimed Jessie.

"But what if Officer Jenny catches us?" inquired James.

"Just wear those crazy disguises of yours...they should be able to fool her...though to be honest I've always been able to recognize you even when you're wearing them." ordered Giovanni.

"Alright then! Let's get out of here and get our disguises then!" bellowed Meowth.

The trio of Pokemon trainers promptly bolted.

Giovanni called for the duo he wanted to send after Chris and Ned a few minutes later.

"Cassidy! Mitch! Get in here!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"My name is Butch!" bellowed the male Team Rocket Grunt as he and Cassidy ran into the room.

"Sorry about that...I've got a job for you...I want you to get a Jigglypuff and an Eevee for me...one of them belongs to a trainer who I believe is a brunette and dresses in black...while the other is a blonde who dresses in a labcoat..." explained Giovanni.

"Sir, yes, sir!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"Get my name right next time!" demanded Butch.

"Sure thing, Billy." answered Giovanni tauntingly.

"Aarghhh!" bellowed Butch.

The two Team Rocket Grunts promptly left the room.

"Hopefully they'll succeed at least..." thought the head honcho of Team Rocket to himself.

_Jake has captured a Mankey and has defeated Brock...so everyone has a gym badge now...but guess what, Team Rocket's going to try to capture Lucy and her Clefairy again..._

_...oh, and Team Rocket's going after Chris and Ned as well...but they're going to have to deal with more experienced Team Rocket Grunts...not good news for them._

_What's going to happen next? Well, in the next chapter, Lucy and Jake will be heading to the museum and Chris and Ned will be heading to Mt. Moon...but you should probably know that much._

_Adios!_


	11. Chapter 11: The Magikarp Salesman

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to check out the local museum...but they're going to have to prepare for trouble once more..._

_Oh, and Chris and Ned are going to be paying Mt. Moon a visit...unfortunately, Team Rocket will be causing trouble there...since you know, they like being evil and whatnot..._

_Oh...and Ned's going to get ripped off! What a disaster..._

_Sit back and watch the show!_

**Chapter 11: The Magikarp Salesman**

Lucy and Jake were both touring the local exhibit, eager to see the fossil Pokemon that were on display. As it turns out, there were quite a few of them on show...including those that were displaying Kabutos and Omanytes evolving into Kabutopses and Omastars respectively.

"Funny, I heard that there's a lab at Cinnabar Island that people can use to bring fossilized Pokemon back to life..." pointed out Jake.

"Really?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...of course, in order to do that, we'll need a fossil of some kind...I heard that we can get them at Mt. Moon somewhere, though I'm not quite sure where." explained Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Apparently she was looking forward to heading there, though Lucy wasn't quite sure why.

"Ah...would Mt. Moon happen to be nearby? I can't help but shake the feeling that my Clefairy's itching to head there..." inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"I believe that we have to go there to get to Cerulean City, so yes." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Clefairy!" squealed Lucy's Clefairy. She was so happy that she would be able to head there as part of her trainer's Pokemon journey, though admittedly she wouldn't be able to stay there forever.

"That's good to know." answered Lucy.

"Of course, just between you and me...I don't think we'll be able to take any from the museum..." pointed out the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Right...but why would we do that? It's not like we're members of Team Rocket, you know." answered Lucy.

Jake promptly sweatdropped. Would he be able to keep his secret from Lucy forever? Or was she going to figure it out eventually? Either way, he was worried.

"Say, would you look at that? There's a collection of elemental stones here...I wonder what we could evolve with them?" said Lucy.

Sure enough, there were several different stones on display, including Fire Stones, Water Stones, and Thunder Stones.

Lucy's Clefairy shook her head once more.

"Oh right...you still don't want to evolve yet..." answered the female Pokemon trainer. "At least not until you get a bigger spaceship, right?"

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. It was always important to conserve space when you were trying to drive a vehicle, especially considering that she didn't want to crash her spaceship again.

"My Grimer's never been a Pokemon that wanted to evolve either to be honest...he said that he wanted to limit the amount of damage he caused to the environment..." pointed out Jake.

"Oh...that's nice of him...though it would be rather interesting if he eventually evolved into a Muk." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...it's always important to conserve the environment." noted Jake.

They also noticed that there was a skeleton of an Aerodactyl on display in the museum.

"It sure looks vicious, doesn't it?" noted Lucy.

"Yeah...good thing it went extinct before we were both born, am I right? Otherwise we'd probably be in trouble..." inquired Jake.

"I suppose...still, I wonder what it would be like if I could use it as a Pokemon? Surely that would surprise the other Pokemon trainers..." asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Eh, it probably wouldn't listen to you. It's not like every Pokemon likes being bossed around, you know." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, not without the proper badges. Good thing we're on a Pokemon journey, right?" answered Lucy.

"Right." answered Jake.

Suddenly, they noticed that there was a man and a woman showing several different Pokemon trainers around. They were both wearing glasses.

For some reason, Lucy's Clefairy thought that they looked familiar. Had they met somewhere before? Then again, this was the first time they had paid a visit to the local museum...so just how could they?

"Hello there, and welcome to the museum! Before you ask, we are most definitely not here to steal your Pokemon!" exclaimed the woman.

"Mm-hmm! We would never dream about that! Why would we ever steal from you?" inquired the man.

Although she couldn't tell for sure, Lucy's Clefairy got the strange feeling that they had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

"Can we check out the exhibits? I heard that they're really cool..." inquired one of the tourists.

"We paid money so that we could go on these tours, you know!" answered another one of the tourists.

"Yes, of course! We wouldn't want to hold you up, now would we?" exclaimed the man.

"Go right ahead! Check out the exhibits! We won't stop you!" answered the woman.

The tourists shrugged and decided to do as they said. They certainly were rather strange for tour guides.

Suddenly, the man and woman noticed Jake and Lucy.

"Hey there...how would you like to go on a special tour?" inquired the man.

"It'll be just the two of you." answered the woman.

"Why just the two of us?" inquired Lucy.

"Er, where is this tour?" asked Jake.

"It's right outside the museum..." pointed out the man.

"Er, why would you have a tour outside the museum? Wouldn't it be easier to have one inside?" questioned Lucy.

"Who cares? Walk right with us, will you? There's lots of things that we want you to see." inquired the man.

The two decided to unaccompany the mysterious museum staff members outside the museum...immediately, they noticed that there was a Meowth hot air balloon nearby. All of a sudden, the duo got suspicious.

"Now if you would let us have your Clefairy for just one m-"

Jake cut the woman off. "Wait a minute! I know who you two are! You're Jessie and James, aren't you?!"

The man and woman sweatdropped.

"Er, we don't know anyone by the name of Jessie! Why are you asking us this?" exclaimed the woman.

"Er, yeah...we don't know anyone by the name of James either! Would they happen to be friends of yours?" bellowed the man.

"As a matter of fact, they're not." answered Lucy.

Curious, Lucy's Clefairy decided to remove the glasses that the two were wearing...and sure enough, it was Jessie and James.

They promptly sighed, realizing that they had been discovered, and tore off their tour guide uniforms, revealing their Team Rocket outfits.

"Alright, you got us!" exclaimed Jessie.

"But we're still stealing your Clefairy! She's going to make us lots of cash!" bellowed James.

Meowth promptly revealed himself. Turns out that he had been hiding in the hot air balloon.

"Meowth, that's right!" exclaimed Meowth.

"Are you going to sing your obnoxious motto again? I'm really tired of it already, you know." inquired Jake.

"We're going to do it a bit differently this time...and why are you so tired of it?" explained James.

"It'd be a lot more endurable if you didn't sing it all the time..." answered Jake. "And it won't stop getting stuck in my head, either...you wouldn't believe how many times I had to wash out my ears..."

"Yeah...I'm starting to get tired of it too...and so far I've only heard it once." answered Lucy.

"Aw, c'mon! Can't you cut us some slack?" demanded Meowth.

Jake sighed.

"Fine..."

"We were really hoping that this would be a surprise!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Everyone knows that we're masters of disguise!" bellowed James.

"To have our disguises revealed so easily is such a devastation!" complained the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"We were hoping that we'd be able to fool an entire nation!" nodded the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sorry to hear that, wait, you wanted to fool an entire nation?!" questioned Lucy.

"Well, maybe not an entire nation." answered James.

"We'll be heading back to the regular lyrics now..." said Meowth.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" exclaimed Jessie.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" bellowed James.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" screamed the female Team Rocket grunt.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" bellowed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Meowth, that's right!" exclaimed Meowth.

"Oh dear...looks like you're after my Clefairy again...can't say I approve of that. Can't you just leave her alone?" noted Lucy.

Meowth shook his head. How could they possibly pass up such an opportunity to get some quick cash?

"Guess what? This time there's no Officer Jenny to save you! She's off at Mt. Moon at the moment." bellowed James.

"Oh dear...why would she be heading off there?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"We're kind of planning a heist there at the moment." answered Jessie.

Ironically enough, Jake remembered his boss telling them about it. Apparently, there were valuable Pokemon and fossils there.

"Clefairy?" questioned the Fairy Pokemon.

"You're still not getting that Clefairy, you know. We're not letting you!" answered Jake.

"We'll see about that...go Ekans!" exclaimed Jessie.

Jessie sent out her Ekans.

"Ekans!" bellowed the Snake Pokemon.

"Go, Koffing!" bellowed James.

James sent out his Koffing.

"Koffing!" yelled the Poison Gas Pokemon.

"Er, which one should we take on?" inquired Lucy.

"Eh, I suppose I'll take on Jessie while you take on James..." explained Jake.

"OK then...go Pidgey!" exclaimed Lucy as she hurled her Pokemon's Pokeball.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"I guess I'll send out my Mankey...he did so well against Brock..." noted Jake.

"Funny, doesn't he usually travel with that twerp?" inquired Jessie.

"I know..." nodded James.

He promptly released his Mankey.

"Mankey!" cheered the monkey Pokemon.

"Why is he wearing a hat?" inquired Meowth.

"Because he likes wearing them?" asked Jake.

Meowth simply shrugged.

"Ekans, use Wrap!" ordered Jessie.

Ekans promptly wrapped herself around the opposing Mankey.

"Funny, I seem to recall Brock's Onix trying that on my Mankey...didn't work out too well." thought Jake.

Sure enough, Jake's Mankey broke free...and he was angry.

"Try using Scratch!" ordered Jake.

The trained Mankey started scratching Ekans in her face.

"Ekans, use Bite!" ordered Jessie.

Ekans promptly started biting into Mankey.

"Mankey, use Leer!" ordered Jake.

Mankey promptly glared at the opposing snake Pokemon, causing her defense to fall.

"Use Poison Sting!" demanded Jessie.

Jessie's Ekans did so...but Mankey wasn't poisoned.

"Use Scratch!" demanded Jake.

Jake's Mankey did so once again, causing Jessie's Ekans to faint. Jessie was outraged by her defeat.

"Aargh! Gosh darn it! How could I lose?!" she exclaimed.

"Maybe next time you should bring more than one Pokemon...it'll make life a lot easier for you." noted the Team Rocket Grunt as he received his prize money.

"Funny, for some strange reason...he looks familiar." thought Jessie.

Meanwhile, Lucy was dealing with James and his Koffing.

"Use Smokescreen!" ordered James.

James' Koffing happily did so...but Lucy's Pidgey blew the smoke away. He promptly frowned, realizing that his attack had been made useless.

"So, you can use Gust now?" inquired Lucy.

Her Pidgey nodded.

"That's nice." noted Lucy.

"I'm still going to win! Use Smog!" ordered James.

As before, James' Koffing did so...but once again, Lucy's Pidgey blew the gas away.

"How am I going to win this?!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know either. Try using Tackle!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey promptly tackled into Koffing, knocking the breath out of him for producing smoke with.

"Try using Tackle!" ordered James.

James' Koffing promptly tackled into Pidgey...but this wasn't enough.

"Use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey nodded, and used Gust to take down James' Koffing, who now had swirls in his eyes. James was very unhappy about his defeat.

"I got beaten by a little girl! Why?! I feel so humilated! How could this happen to me?" bellowed James.

"Take it easy...is being beaten by a girl really such a big deal? Your coworker's a girl too, you know." answered Lucy as she received her Pokedollars.

James promptly sighed, realizing what she had told him was true. Though admittedly sometimes he was unsure if she was actually a girl.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well, it looks like we lost...for the second time today...and for about the seventh time this week." noted Jessie.

"Sheesh...why do the Pokemon trainers we encounter always have to be so strong? Why can't we fight a weak Pokemon trainer for a change?" inquired James.

"Like...you?" inquired Jake.

The Team Rocket trio all sweatdropped.

"We're never able to steal a Pokemon...heck, I bet that we couldn't even steal a Magikarp..." spoke Meowth.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Jake. Were they really that incompetent? Surely, they'd be able to steal at least one Pokemon...

"Well, let's see if we can make history...today's the day we're finally going to steal a Pokemon!" shouted James.

Once more, he snuck behind Lucy and grabbed onto her Clefairy.

"Not again! Why can't you keep your hands to yourselves?!" bellowed Lucy. Why did Team Rocket want her Clefairy so bad, anyway? Was she really that valuable?

"Clefairy!" screamed Lucy's Clefairy as she was snatched away.

"Off to Team Rocket HQ we go!" bellowed Jessie.

The Team Rocket trio promptly stepped into the hot air balloon along with their stolen Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Clefairy broke free from James' grip and jumped off the balloon to safety.

"Get back here! We need you so that Giovanni will treat us with respect!" ordered Meowth.

Of course, Lucy's Clefairy did not listen, and she grabbed onto Lucy's backside once more.

"Good to see you're safe." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy...

Team Rocket tried to chase after Clefairy for a second... but as it turns out, their hot air balloon had risen to the sky too quickly.

"No!" bellowed James, realizing that they were returning to their headquarters empty-handed.

And to make matters worse, Lucy's Pidgey had decided to peck their hot air balloon, so they were blasting off once again.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off for the second time today and for the fifth time this week!" bellowed the Team Rocket trio as they were all sent flying away.

DING!

"Well, it looks like we defeated Team Rocket again...I wonder why they keep getting blasted away, anyway? Surely gravity would do something about all that..." noted Lucy.

"Technically it was Officer Jenny that defeated them the first time...though personally I wonder what that too...it never seems to happen to anyone else." explained Jake.

"Yeah...technically I was the one that called the police though..." explained the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Let's live by the technicality then." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

The duo left the museum a few minutes later. As they did so, the two of them noticed that Lucy's Clefairy had done something wrong.

"Did you just steal from the museum?! What were you thinking?!" bellowed Lucy, noticing the Pokemon skull the Fairy Pokemon had in her hands.

"Clef..." apologized Lucy's Clefairy. She simply had been unable to help herself.

"I'm starting to wonder if Lucy's Clefairy is really that much better than Jessie and James...then again, neither am I apparently." thought Jake to himself.

"You give that back! That skull is not for you!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy ran into the museum and returned the stolen skull. She came back a few minutes later.

"No more kleptomania!" demanded the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

The Fairy Pokemon dropped her head sadly.

"Funny, I never really recall Lucy getting angry...she always seems to be so sweet-natured...though then again I suppose there's a first time for everything..." thought Jake.

_Meanwhile at the Mt. Moon Pokemon Center..._

"I have to admit, it was nice of the Pokemon League to set up a Pokemon Center outside of Mt. Moon...personally, it feels like a checkpoint of some kind..." noted Ned.

"Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. I'll be right back...I need to use the restroom. " explained Chris.

Ned nodded as Chris temporarily left him.

"Hey there buddy! How would you like to have a Pokemon of a lifetime! You'll be able to win the Indigo League Conference for sure!" bellowed a mysterious man standing in the Pokemon Center.

Curious, Ned decided to take a closer look, even though the salesman in question was rather shady and he had a bad feeling about him.

"I happen to be selling Magikarp, the best Pokemon of all! They are completely and utterly invincible! You'll never lose another Pokemon battle again! I guarantee it!" lied the con artist.

"You're selling Magikarp? That's interesting...where did you get all of them?" inquired Ned.

"With my trusty fishing rod! I needed a Super-Duper Rod to catch them all! It took forever!" lied the con artist.

"Oh...so...you're giving them out to other Pokemon trainers, am I right?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Mm-hmm! One of them shall be yours for the measly price of just five hundred Pokedollars!" explained the Magikarp salesman.

"Sounds like a bargain then..." answered the nerd, though part of his brain told him that it actually wasn't and that his leg was being pulled.

For some strange reason, he got the strange urge not to buy anything from the mysterious salesman and that this was too good to be true...but unfortunately he did not trust his instinct.

"It's a deal!" exclaimed the boy as he foolishly handed the con artist some cash.

"Thanks a lot you mo-I mean, my dear customer! Here is your new Magikarp!" cheered the Magikarp Salesman as he handed Ned a Pokeball with a Magikarp inside.

Curious, Ned decided to give his new Pokemon a scan. He immediately got suspicious when he heard what his Pokedex had to say.

"Magikarp, the Fish Pokemon. It is the weakest Pokemon in the history of ever." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Wait a second..." murmured Ned.

"Whoops! Look at the time! Got to go!" bellowed the con artist as he ran out of the Pokemon Center.

Ned promptly sighed. It looked like he had been duped. How could he have fallen for it so easily?

"Should I call Officer Jenny? Something tells me that she might be looking for him..." wondered the nerd.

Chris came by a few seconds later.

"Did I miss anything?" inquired Chris.

"I think I just got scammed...now I'm five hundred dollars short..." answered the nerd.

The unfeminine Pokemon trainer promptly sighed.

"And to think I left you alone for just a few minutes...what's gotten into you?" noted Chris.

"Stupid Magikarp salesman..." murmured Ned.

"Meh, I'm sure he'll be brought to justice eventually. He can't keep getting away with what he's been doing forever." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"I sure hope so...personally I wonder where he hopped off too anyway?" answered the male Pokemon trainer.

"He's probably out there looking for someone else to scam...I hear that nowadays he likes scamming Team Rocket members out of their money and Pokemon..." murmured Chris.

"He's scammed Team Rocket out of their money and Pokemon? That's rather ironic considering what they do for a living..." noted Ned.

"It's a taste of their own medicine, I guess. Let's head to Mt. Moon, shall we? I'm dying to get my second gym badge." inquired the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Well, technically, we got our first gym badges a few minutes ago...but I'm with you there! I heard that the gym leader there is a mermaid!" answered Ned.

"That's just her Gym Leader title...she's not actually a mermaid...though she does train water-types. Do you have to believe everything you hear?" answered Chris.

"Aww!" complained Ned, realizing that once again, things turned out to be too good to be true.

And so, the two Pokemon trainers headed off to Mt. Moon.

_Oh dear...Ned got tricked by the evil Magikarp salesman...when will he ever learn not to scam other Pokemon trainers out of their money?_

_Oh, and Lucy and Jake sent Team Rocket blasting off...apparently this keeps happening to them even when they're not actually dealing with Ash Ketchum himself...it's rather weird._

_And yes, this was the fifth time this week that had happened to them. I wonder how they manage to survive anyway? Then again, that's like answering how many licks it takes to reach the center of a Tootsie Pop...no scientist will ever be able to figure it out._

_In the next chapter...well, everyone's going to head to Mt. Moon...oh, and a certain pair's going to get two Pokemon fossils...how nice._


	12. Chapter 12: Rocket To The Moon

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter...well, all four of our characters will be heading to Mt. Moon...though admittedly two of them will be getting there first._

_But whose going to get the fossils? You'll find out in due time, my dear friends...assuming of course that you actually decide to read this chapter...which you will hopefully. Heh heh heh._

_And yes, I used a pun for the title! Unfortunately, you probably won't find it funny. Ah well. Then again, maybe you will. What do I know?_

**Chapter 12: Rocket To The Moon**

"I can't help but shake the feeling that we're eventually going to encounter Team Rocket again..." worried Lucy.

"What makes you say that?" inquired Jake.

"Well, they seem rather determined to get their hands on my Clefairy." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded...and wished that they would try catching Pokemon themselves for a change.

Jake sighed.

"I suppose we're just going to have to make sure we're prepared." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy nodded in agreement, though personally she was hoping that they wouldn't encounter them again, or that they would eventually turn over a new leaf.

Fortunately for the two, now that they were finally able to leave Pewter City, they noticed that there were many trainers nearby.

"Looks like we're going to have a lot of battles on our hands." noted Lucy.

Jake nodded his head in agreement. Of course, this would also be a good chance for them to gather experience for their Pokemon for their cash, so obstacles would also prove to be opportunities.

"Which ones should we go after? I can't help but shake the feeling we should go after someone specific..." inquired Jake.

"Well, there does seem to be a youngster and a lass nearby." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"I suppose I'll battle the youngster and you battle the lass then...that sounds like a good idea as any." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"OK! Sounds like a plan!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, the youngster and the lass noticed them.

"Hey buddy! I want you to check out my awesome Pokemon! It's the best Pokemon there is!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Yeah, what he said...though personally I think that my Jigglypuff is the best." continued the lass.

"What makes you say that?" inquired the youngster.

"Er, our Pokemon are both the best?" asked the girl.

"That's more like it!" exclaimed the boy.

"Are you traveling as a duo too?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah, pretty much. Though to be honest we haven't gotten any badges yet." answered the youngster.

"Fair enough...wait, how'd you get past the guard then?" answered Jake.

"We saw him get arrested by Officer Jenny." noted the lass.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" questioned Lucy, recalling how hostile he was to them simply because they didn't have the Boulder Badge at the time.

The youngster promptly sent out his Pikachu...while the lass sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Funny, doesn't Chris own a Jigglypuff too?" thought the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Jake gave the Pikachu a scan.

"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon. It's the official Pokemon mascot...and can generate electricity in its cheeks."

"That explains why they're red." noted Jake.

The Team Rocket Grunt sent out his Rattata while Lucy sent out her Clefairy.

"Rattata!" exclaimed Jake's Rattata.

"Clefairy!" squealed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" ordered the youngster.

The youngster's Pikachu did so...and Jake's Rattata ended up being zapped.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the Mouse Pokemon. Who would have thought that another mouse Pokemon would have so much electricity at its disposal?

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy did so...and breathed a steam of fire on Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed the enemy Jigglypuff as she was hit by the flamethrower.

"There's no telling what my Clefairy's going to do whenever she uses Metronome..." noted Lucy.

"I wonder if I could try teaching one of my Pokemon that..." wondered the lass.

"Jigglypuff, use Sing!" ordered the lass.

Jigglypuff did so...but Lucy's Clefairy had enough experience with Chris's Jigglypuff to know to cover her ears.

The lass promptly frowned. She was hoping that that would have worked...that always seemed to be effective when she battled her partner's Pikachu.

"Try using Metronome again..." answered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded, and struck her enemy Jigglypuff with a tidal wave...this time, she fainted.

The lass promptly sighed as she handed Lucy some Pokedollars.

"I wish my Jigglypuff could do that..." she murmured.

Meanwhile, Jake was dealing with the youngster, and was turning the tables on him after that nasty electric shock.

"Use Quick Attack!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

His Rattata did so, and he got a critical hit.

"Pikachu!" bellowed the opposing Pikachu.

"Yikes! Try using Thundershock again!" exclaimed the youngster.

The youngster's Pikachu nodded as he started charging another electric attack, but this time Jake's Rattata was ready, and he dodged it like a pro.

"No!" exclaimed the youngster.

His Rattata then began to focus, gathering some energy.

"Oh...looks like you've learned Focus Energy now...that's nice." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Use Tail Whip!" ordered the youngster.

The opposing Pikachu started shaking his tail at the opposing Rattata, causing his defense to lower.

However, this ultimately wouldn't do the Mouse Pokemon any good, considering what would happen next.

"Use Tackle!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Rattata did so, tackling into the opposing Pikachu...who winded up fainting thanks to a well-timed critical hit.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed the youngster as he recalled his Pikachu into his Pokeball.

_A few seconds later..._

"You guys are too good for us..." said the youngster.

"I'm really impressed with your strength..." agreed the lass.

"It was nice battling with you." answered Lucy.

"Yeah...it sure was." agreed Jake.

They decided to leave the two to continue on their own respective Pokemon journeys. Fortunately, there was a Pokemon Center nearby, so that they could essentially battle as any many trainers as they wanted.

"Should we train here a little longer?" inquired Lucy.

"Maybe..." answered Jake.

Suddenly, they heard someone calling for help. Apparently, someone needed their immediate assistance.

"Help me! Somebody do something! This is a disaster! What am I going to do?!" bellowed a nearby scientist.

Curious, they decided they what was the problem.

"Is something the matter?" asked Lucy.

"Team Rocket's invaded Mt. Moon! They're after rare Pokemon and are excavating fossils here! They're going to become filthy stinking rich!" bellowed the scientist.

"So, they're basically going to become like Lucy then?" thought Jake to himself.

"What?!" exclaimed the wealthy Pokemon trainer. Team Rocket was lurking in Mt. Moon? It looked that their journey was about to become more complicated.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. Were they going after Clefairies just like her? She knew that many of them were residing in Mt. Moon, and started to worry about their safety.

"You've got to help me! You need to drive them out now!" demanded the Pokemon researcher.

Jake promptly sweatdropped. Sure, he could give the scientist a hand...but in order to do so, he would have to battle Team Rocket Grunts...grunts that were just like him.

"What should I do?" he thought.

He then remembered that since he was in disguise...the other Team Rocket Grunts probably wouldn't recognize him, anyway.

"It's a deal! We'll help you clear out the Team Rocket Grunts!" exclaimed Lucy, shaking the scientist's hand.

Jake sighed. It looked like Lucy wasn't going to give him a choice in the matter...and started to wonder if he should simply confess to her that he was part of the villainous team.

"Er, where are they anyway?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"They're deep inside Mt. Moon, I believe...though you'll still have to take them down if you want to get to Cerulean City." noted the scientist.

"Good to know." answered Lucy.

To make a long story short, the two of them entered Mt. Moon.

_Meanwhile inside Mt. Moon,_

As it turns out, there were several different Pokemon trainers inside the mountain, even though with Team Rocket around they probably should have been leaving.

Of course, then again, it's not like many of them were actually aware of Team Rocket's presence.

Ned and Chris decided not to ask the Pokemon trainers what they were doing in the mountain, and instead challenged them to Pokemon battles. Chris was up against a hiker...while Ned was up against another nerd.

"When I'm finished with this battle, I'm going to climb to the top of this mountain!" exclaimed the hiker.

"Isn't that going to be really difficult? I personally would like to see you try..." inquired Chris.

"Well, I can at least get through this mountain and head towards Cerulean City for now." he answered.

"I suppose." answered the tomboy.

"Go, Geodude!" yelled the hiker.

Sure enough, he sent out a Geodude.

Chris decided to test her new Nidoran.

"Go, Nidoran!" exclaimed Chris as she sent out her latest Pokemon.

"Nidoran!" bellowed the poisonous Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"Use Rock Throw!" ordered the hiker.

Geodude did so, tossing a few stones at Nidoran. Fortunately, he dodged most of them, though one of them did hit him on the head. He promptly rubbed it with his paw.

"A Rock-type, eh? Try using Double Kick!" exclaimed Chris.

Nidoran nodded and kicked Geodude twice in succession...and as the hiker found out, this was surprisingly effective against Rock-types. Geodude fainted.

"I don't get it...wouldn't kicking a rock hurt you?" inquired the hiker as he returned his Geodude to his Pokeball.

"Not a Pokemon, apparently." answered Chris.

"Go, Onix!" bellowed the hiker.

"Funny, isn't that the team that Brock typically uses for his gym battles? I have to admit, he was a rather disappointing gym leader...he gave me his badge for free." explained the tomboy.

"Really?" asked the hiker.

"Yeah...at least you won't back down from a challenge..." answered Chris. "Anyways...Nidoran, use Double Kick!"

Nidoran did so, kicking Onix twice in succession. However, this wasn't quite enough to take him down.

"Use Tackle!" ordered the hiker.

Onix did so, pummeling into the unfortunate Nidoran. Fortunately, though he was rather woozy, he was still OK.

"Nidoran..." murmured the injured Pokemon.

"Use Double Kick again..." spoke Chris.

Chris's Nidoran did so, causing Onix to collapse to the ground. The hiker promptly recalled his Pokemon.

"Maybe you're right...I guess I'm not cut out for climbing Mt. Moon yet." answered the hiker as he handed Chris some cash.

"You could always try climbing your own Onix. He seems pretty tall...though admittedly not as tall as a mountain." noted Chris.

"Hmm..." thought the hiker. That did seem like an interesting idea...should he try doing that instead?

Meanwhile, Ned was dealing with a nerdy Pokemon trainer...or in other words, a trainer that was just like him.

"Go, Magnemite!" exclaimed the nerd as he tossed his Pokeball.

Sure enough, a Magnemite came out of it.

"Magnemite!" exclaimed the metallic Pokemon.

Ned couldn't help but give it a scan...wondering why it only had one eye when most Pokemon had two.

"Magnemite, the Magnet Pokemon. It can defy gravity and loves electromagnetic waves." explained the Pokedex.

"Interesting..." he thought. "I suppose I'll send out my Nidoran for this one...she deserves her day in the limelight."

Sure enough, he decided to send out his Nidoran.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed his Nidoran as she was released from her Pokeball.

"I wonder why Chris got the male one and I got the female one...it doesn't make sense." questioned Ned.

"You're traveling with a girl? I'm jealous!" exclaimed the opposing Pokemon trainer.

Ned sweatdropped.

"Anyways, use Supersonic!" demanded the enemy nerd.

The opposing Magnemite did so, causing Nidoran to become dizzy.

"Uh-oh!" he thought.

Nidoran tried attacking the opposing Magnemite...but she hit her own head instead.

"Nidoran?" inquired the confused Pokemon.

"Very good! Now use Thundershock!" ordered the enemy nerd.

The opposing Magnemite nodded, and zapped Ned's unfortunate Nidoran. Fortunately, this had the side effect of restoring Nidoran to her senses.

"Nidoran?" asked Ned's Nidoran, wondering what had happened.

"Use Double Kick!" ordered Ned.

Nidoran immediately charged towards the enemy Magnemite, kicking it twice in rapid succession.

For some strange reason, this was super-effective, and the Magnet Pokemon fell on the floor with its single eye shut.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the opposing nerd as he returned his Pokemon.

"Got any other Pokemon?" inquired Ned.

"As a matter of fact, yes I do! Go Voltorb!" exclaimed the nerd.

"Voltorb!" bellowed the Pokemon as it was released from the Pokeball.

"Strange...this Pokemon looks just like a Pokeball..." thought Ned as he scanned it with his Pokedex.

"Voltorb, the Ball Pokemon. It is often mistaken for a Pokeball...and enjoys self-destructing." explained the Pokedex.

"Self-destructing? That doesn't sound good." murmured Ned.

"Trust me, it isn't. Use Self-Destruct!" ordered the opposing nerd.

"Voltorb!" exclaimed Voltorb as it rolled towards Nidoran.

Fortunately for Ned, his Nidoran saw it coming, and she leapt out of the way before it could blow itself up.

BLAMMO!

"Voltorb..." murmured the enemy Voltorb as it fainted.

"Oh dear...it seems that it faints whenever it performs that move..." explained Ned.

"Well, it's usually fine whenever it does it outside a Pokemon battle...which is unfortunately all the time." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer as he recalled his Voltorb.

Ned smiled as he received some prize money.

_A few minutes later..._

"There sure are a lot of interesting rocks around here..." noticed Ned.

"You think some of them might actually be fossils?" questioned Chris.

"Maybe, I'm not sure...say, there's a rather big one over there." pointed out the nerd.

Sure enough, there was a rather big rock nearby...though there seemed to be something funny about it.

Nonetheless, Ned decided to pick it up.

"Isn't this an interesting-looking rock..." he thought.

He was then met with a big surprise.

"Geodude!" bellowed the disguised Pokemon.

Ned once more screamed like a little girl, and dropped the Geodude on the floor.

"Funny, I'm actually starting to like hearing him scream..." thought Chris. "It's always so hilarious..."

Chris gave the Geodude a scan.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokemon. It is often mistaken for boulders, thus people often step or trip on it."

"Well, in Ned's case, he picked it up." noted Chris.

The Geodude must have been irritated that Ned had dropped it on the floor, because it started swinging its fists at him.

"Nidoran! Help me!" demanded Ned. Fortunately for him, his Nidoran was still outside her Pokeball.

Nidoran did so, and stabbed the Geodude with her poison barbs.

"Geodude..." murmured the rock Pokemon, who was now feeling sick.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Ned as he threw his Pokeball.

Due to the fact that the rock Pokemon was poisoned, it didn't put up much of a fight against the capturing device...and just like that, Geodude was caught.

"Sheesh, that Pokemon scared the heck out of me..." noted Ned.

Nonetheless, he decided to return his Nidoran and examine his new Pokemon by sending it out of its Pokeball.

"So, you're a dude Pokemon huh?" inquired Ned.

For some strange reason, the Geodude crossed its arms in irritation.

"Huh?" inquired the nerd.

Giving it a a scan with his Pokedex, he realized that the Geodude was actually a female.

"Whoops! Guess I should be calling you dudette..." answered the nerd.

Ned's female Geodude nodded.

"Back to your Pokeball you go, dudette." answered Ned as he returned his new Pokemon to her Pokeball.

"Didn't know that Geodudes could be female..." noted Chris.

"I guess you learn something new every day...er, my Magikarp wouldn't happen to be a girl too, now would it? I know that my Nidoran and my new Geodude are..." answered the nerd.

Chris gave the Magikarp's Pokeball a scan.

"Nope, it's a dude." answered the tomboy.

"OK then." nodded Ned. "Let's go look for some fossils!"

"The only ones who are going to be looking for fossils are us!" answered a mysterious voice.

Curious, Ned and Chris looked around, and discovered that there were two Team Rocket Grunts standing a few feet from them.

"How did I not notice them before?" inquired Chris.

"You think we would have noticed them..." answered Ned.

Oddly enough, one of them was a fair bit taller than the other.

"Listen here you little twerps...we're in a middle of an operation here!" exclaimed the taller Team Rocket Grunt.

"I'd advise you to scram!" continued the shorter Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, since you asked us so nicely...how about no!" exclaimed Chris.

"You asked for it." answered the taller Team Rocket grunt.

The taller Team Rocket grunt sent out a Zubat, while his partner sent out a Zubat.

"I'll take care of the tall one, you take care of the smaller one..." ordered the tomboy.

"Who are you calling small?" bellowed the smaller Team Rocket Grunt.

Ned reluctantly sent out his Eevee.

"B-be careful out there." warned the nerd, worried about having to battle evil Pokemon trainers.

"Eevee?" inquired his Eevee, not realizing what the problem was.

Chris immediately sent out her Jigglypuff.

"These guys are bad...so let's give them a taste of their own medicine, shall we?" inquired the tomboy.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed her balloon Pokemon in agreement.

Chris gave the Zubat a scan.

"Zubat, the Bat Pokemon! It uses ultrasaonic waves as a form of sight!" explained the Pokedex.

"Funny, I don't think it actually has eyes..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Zubat, use Supersonic!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

The evil Pokemon trainer's Pokemon nodded, and started to screech at the opposing Pokemon.

Fortunately, though the attack did hurt Jigglypuff's ears, she wasn't confused.

"Can I sing a song for you? Or in this case, can my Jigglypuff? Use Sing!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and sang a song for the opposing Zubat, who promptly fell asleep...though oddly enough, he was still flying in midair.

"Urgh! You're worthless!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt. Apparently he wasn't happy at how incompetent his Pokemon was.

"Now use Pound!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, pounding into the opposing Zubat. Unfortunately, he still did not wake up from his slumber.

"Wake up!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Looks like I get in another attack. Use Pound!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, and this time she got a critical hit. The opposing Zubat promptly fell on the cavern floor.

"I don't believe this..." murmured the Team Rocket Grunt as he recalled his Pokemon and gave his opponent some of his cash...which he had stolen from another Pokemon trainer earlier.

Of course, Ned was still dealing with the small Team Rocket Grunt.

"C'mon! I dare your Pokemon to attack mine! Or are you scared?" taunted the smaller Team Rocket Grunt.

Ned was sweating quite a bit, though oddly enough his Eevee wasn't.

"Eevee?" inquired Ned's Eevee. Why wasn't his trainer giving him commands.

"You're such a disappointment. Rattata, use Tackle!" exclaimed the evil Pokemon trainer.

His Rattata did so, tackling into Ned's Eevee, who now looked to be in a state of mild discomfort.

Seeing that his Pokemon had been hurt, Ned promptly came to his senses.

"Leave my Pokemon alone! Use Tackle!" exclaimed the nerd.

Ned's Eevee did so...and took out the Team Rocket's Grunt Pokemon with one shot.

"Huh, I guess I had nothing to worry about." thought Ned, realizing that he had been worked up over nothing.

"You can say that again." answered the Team Rocket Grunt as he handed the nerd some of his ill-gotten cash.

A few seconds after they had been both been defeated, the Team Rocket Grunts decided to flee Mt. Moon and head to Cerulean City...though not before deciding to threaten the trainers that had taken them down.

"You may have defeated us, but one of these days our boss is going to catch you, and when he does he's gonna-" the taller Team Rocket Grunt whispered the rest of the threat in Chris's ears.

"Huh. We'll see about that." answered the tomboy, who oddly enough wasn't feeling too phased despite how nasty the threat it was.

The smaller Team Rocket Grunt did the same for Ned...he made like a losing Pokemon and fainted.

The two Team Rocket Grunts then ran away as fast as they could. Chris sighed realizing what had happened to her partner.

"Well, might as well have some fun. Jigglypuff, why don't you give him a mustache?" inquired the tomboy.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the balloon Pokemon, eager to do so.

Chris also noticed that Ned's Eevee had fallen asleep.

"And while you're it...why don't you give his Eevee a mustache too?" inquired the tomboy.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded as she set out to do her job.

"That'll teach him to fall asleep on his Pokemon journey with me...though I have to admit he looks kind of cute when he's sleeping...then again, so does his Eevee..." noted the tomboy.

And so, Chris sat back and watched Jigglypuff draw on both Ned and his Pokemon.

_Oh no! Team Rocket's up to no good in Mt. Moon! But not to worry... our heroes are going to stop them...that's what they do best, after all._

_And yes, Ned's Geodude is actually a Geodudette...see what I did here? Heh heh heh._

_Oh, we'll get to see whose actually going to obtain the Pokemon fossils...sound like fun? I know it's going to be fun for me..._

_Adios!_


	13. Chapter 13: Excavation

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, well, guess what? Lucy and Jake are going to run into more Team Rocket Grunts! Oh dear! Well, this is the thirteenth chapter after all...so I'm not sure what you were expecting._

_But on the brighter side of things, Chris and Ned are going to get some fossils...yes, I just revealed whose going to get them. Heh heh heh._

**Chapter 13: Excavation**

Lucy and Jake stepped into Mt. Moon, wondering where the Team Rocket Grunts had wandered off too.

"I'm sure they're up to no good..." thought Lucy.

"I just hope that I'm not discovered..." thought Jake.

Curious, they decided to explore the cave to see if they could find anything suspicious. Sure enough, they noticed that several of the wild Pokemon were on edge.

Apparently, they had all noticed that something was wrong at Mt. Moon, and that someone was up to no good.

"You think they're aware that Team Rocket is here too?" questioned the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Well, I can tell that they're nervous about something...that's for sure." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

A few minutes later, the duo encountered two Team Rocket Grunts trying to capture a Clefairy...one of them was skinny, while the other was fat.

Things looked good for them too. They currently had the Clefairy cornered, so there was no escape for her.

"It looks that scientist was right! There are Team Rocket Grunts in this mountain!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yes...and by the looks of things, they're trying to capture as many wild Pokemon as possible." nodded Jake.

"Clefairy!" screamed the wild Clefairy, realizing that she was in danger.

"Finally! Finding one of these took forever! Why do they have to be so rare?" exclaimed the skinny grunt.

"If they weren't rare Pokemon, we wouldn't get a lot of cash for them. Since we've finally found it, let's snatch it for our boss, shall we?" inquired the fat Team Rocket Grunt.

"I was afraid that you would never ask!" bellowed the skinny Team Rocket Grunt as he pulled out a Pokeball.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the worried Clefairy, not looking forward to being captured by the two Pokemon poachers.

Suffice to say, Lucy's Clefairy felt rather sympathetic. There had to be something she could do about all this.

Suddenly, the two Rocket Grunts noticed Lucy and Jake. They immediately gasped in surprise.

"Hey! What are you two kids doing out here?!" exclaimed the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah! Get the heck out of this mountain! We're busy trying to catch Pokemon!" demanded the fat Team Rocket Grunt.

"We're trying to get to Cerulean City so that we can get our second gym badge." explained Lucy.

"Too bad for you, then! You aren't going anywhere!" answered the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"We're not letting you through! You can't make us!" continued the fat Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sheesh, what is your problem?!" exclaimed Jake.

Pulling out a single Pokeball each, the skinny Team Rocket Grunt sent out a Sandshrew while his partner sent out an Ekans.

"Get 'em, boys!" ordered the two Team Rocket Grunts.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the opposing Sandshrew.

"Ekans!" hissed the opposing Ekans.

Lucy gave the opposing Sandshrew a scan to see if there was anything that she could use against him.

"Sandshrew, the Mouse Pokemon. It dislikes water with a passion and a vengeance." noted Lucy's Pokedex.

"Too bad I don't have a water Pokemon...that would make fighting it a lot easier. Maybe I could try looking for one later?" noted Lucy.

"You take care of the one with the Ekans...I'll take care of the one with the Sandshrew." ordered Jake.

"Alright..." nodded Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy promptly detached herself from Lucy's back...eager to help out another member of her species.

Jake decided to send out his Grimer.

"Grimer!" cheered the sludge Pokemon as he oozed out of his Pokeball.

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded as she began to use to wave her hands back and forth. Soon enough, they began to glow white.

Shortly afterwards, she began to glare at the Ekans rather fiercely.

This proved to be rather effective, as the opposing snake Pokemon was immediately paralyzed with fear.

"Ekans!" screeched the enemy Ekans. Who would have thought that a Clefairy could be so horrifying?

"Oh c'mon!" bellowed the fat Team Rocket Grunt, disappointed at how easily frightened his Pokemon was.

The enemy Ekans tried to move...but he was simply too scared. He really didn't want to mess with a Pokemon that scary.

"Don't tell me you're frightened of a Fairy Pokemon like that..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Ekans..." whimpered the opposing snake Pokemon, dropping his head.

"Seeing though it worked so well the first time, try using Metronome again!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so, and this time she hit the Ekans with a powerful blast...that seemed to have come from her mind, oddly enough.

This proved to be super-effective against the opposing Ekans, and it was knocked out cold.

"Are you using a Gameshark or something?! Because there's no way you could have won this battle without it!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Er, what's a Gameshark? I've never heard of it...does it roam the seas or something? Is it a Water Pokemon?" questioned Lucy.

For some strange reason, Lucy's Clefairy got the strange feeling that he was referring to some sort of cheating device.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. Why was he accusing them of cheating? She was pretty sure she was following the rules.

"Bah! Whatever! Just take your prize money, you little cheater!" exclaimed the fat Team Rocket Grunt as he handed Lucy some prize money.

"Why do you think i'm a cheater?" inquired Lucy, unsure of why he was telling her those things.

"Clefairy." murmured the Fairy Pokemon. The Team Rocket Grunt in question was apparently a poor sport...something that personally didn't surprise her too much.

Of course, Jake was dealing with the skinny Team Rocket Grunt, as he had said he would be doing.

"You're never going to defeat me! My Pokemon has a type advantage over yours! I suggest you surrender!" taunted the evil Pokemon trainer.

"Does it know any Ground-type moves?" inquired Jake.

"Well technically no...but it's still going to beat you!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"We'll see about that...Grimer, use Poison Gas!" ordered the other Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Grimer did so, causing the Team Rocket Grunt's Sandshrew to start to feel very sick.

"C'mon! You can fight it!" bellowed the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sandshrew..." murmured the opposing Sandshrew. To be honest, he wasn't really sure if he could.

"Now use Pound!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer immediately pummeled into the opposing Ground Pokemon.

"Scratch that pile of slime!" demanded the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

His Sandshrew did so...though since Grimer was a pile of sludge, this didn't too much good.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer. For some reason, he had hardly felt that attack.

Suddenly, Grimer snapped his fingers...and the enemy Sandshrew felt very forgetful.

"Didn't know that he could snap them...wait, do Grimers even have bones?" thought Jake.

"Grimer?" inquired his Grimer curiously. Did he secretly have them? Personally he doubted it considering how elastic he was...then again, he was still able to snap his fingers nonetheless. It was weird.

"Scratch it again!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sandshrew?" inquired the enemy Sandshrew. For some strange reason, it couldn't remember how to do it.

"Urgh! You're pathetic!" bellowed the grunt.

"Sandshrew..." murmured the Sandshrew sadly. Why couldn't his trainer treat him with respect?

"Looks like you've learned Disable...good for you." noted Jake.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's Grimer. It always felt good to learn a technique...no matter how many he learned.

However, he was starting to have a hard time remembering the moves his trainer had taught him.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer. Should he try forgetting a move? Surely there was one he didn't really need anymore...

"What, you want to forget a move? Well, I suppose you don't really need to harden yourself since you're already rather resilient..." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded, and decided to forget how to harden itself.

"Is that better?" inquired Jake.

His Grimer nodded. All of a sudden, he had a much easier time remembering his attacks.

As it turns out, the skinny Team Rocket member was still trying to get his Pokemon to use Scratch.

"Why won't you listen to me?! For the love of Giovanni!" bellowed the grunt.

Sandshrew scratched his head...and suddenly, he remembered how to use the technique.

"Finally! Now hurry up and take down this literal slimeball!" ordered the Team Rocket member.

Suddenly, the opposing Sandshrew collapsed from the poison. Apparently, that nasty gas had finally taken their toll.

"Are you kidding me?!" yelled the grunt as he returned the Sandshrew to his Pokeball.

Jake noticed that Lucy had also defeated her opponent as well, and promptly smiled.

"Well, you two weren't so tough." noted Jake as the skinny Team Rocket Grunt handed him some cash.

"I have to admit, they sure had a fair amount of cash...though I can't help but shake the feeling that they stole it." spoke Lucy.

"Yeah..." answered the male Pokemon trainer.

"You may have defeated us, but guess what? Mt. Moon is just the beginning! We're eventually going to take over the world!" exclaimed the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"We are?" inquired the fat man.

"Well yeah...that's what our boss said. He told us that eventually he's going to rule all of Kanto...with an iron fist!" noted the skinny man.

"Oh right...I think there's more regions in the world than just Kanto though..." answered the fat Team Rocket Grunt.

"Meh, I suppose we have to start somewhere. Let's run for it!" exclaimed the skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"Do we have to run?" complained the fat man, not looking forward to the thought of exercise.

"Yes we do! Now c'mon!" exclaimed the skinny one, grabbing his partner by the hand and running out of Mt. Moon.

The wild Clefairy promptly cheered. She was glad that she had been saved. Oddly enough, Lucy's Clefairy actually shook hands with her.

Jake promptly returned his Grimer to his Pokeball...and of course, Lucy's Clefairy returned to her backside.

"Team Rocket sure is up to no good, aren't they? I'm sure that they've got other heists planned." inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded, while Jake sweatdropped.

"Yes...yes, they are." he answered nervously.

Exploring the cave a bit further, they noticed that there were Pokemon on the ceiling. A whole bunch of them in fact. They seemed to be taking a snooze.

Curious, Lucy decided to give them a scan, but Jake quickly realized that that was a bad idea, and put a stop to it.

"No!" whispered the Team Rocket Grunt, grabbing onto the Pokedex.

"What is it?" murmured Lucy.

"We need to keep quiet! We don't want to wake these Pokemon up..." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh, right..." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer, realizing that she had almost woken up the Pokemon.

Sure enough, one of the Zubats lurking on the ceiling did wake up, and started circling them with curiousity. Jake promptly sighed.

Curious, it decided to use its sonic screams to identify them...

...but Jake put a stop to that as well.

"Shh!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt, putting a finger on his mouth.

Curious, Zubat decided to look up (even though it didn't have eyes)...and noticed that its buddies were still sleeping. It promptly sweatdropped, realizing what it had almost done.

Jake and Lucy tiptoed their way out of the cave and towards a place where the Zubat wouldn't hear them.

"Well, that's a sigh of relief...I was worried that we were going to get swarmed." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah, me too." nodded Lucy.

Suddenly, they noticed that the Zubat they had awakened a few minutes ago was still following them.

"Er, do you want a Pokemon battle or something? Because I've got a few Pokemon if you're interested..." inquired Jake.

The wild Zubat nodded. Apparently it wanted to test out Jake's skill, as well as its own.

"Suit yourself." answered the grunt as he sent out his Rattata.

"Rattata!" bellowed the Mouse Pokemon.

Immediately, the opposing Rattata bit into the enemy Zubat...and it wouldn't let go, either.

"Zubat!" screeched the bat Pokemon.

Suffice to say, the mouse Pokemon was sent flying all over the place as the bat pokemon flew across the cave.

Eventually, the opposing Zubat successfully dropped Rattata to the floor, and used a Supersonic attack to make him confused.

"Rattata?" murmured Jake's Rattata, who was now feeling rather dizzy. How was he supposed to attack the Zubat again?

"Looks like I need to recall him so that he doesn't inevitably beat himself up." said Jake as he returned the mouse Pokemon to his Pokeball.

He decided to send out his Mankey to continue the battle. It seemed like a good choice of Pokemon as any...though he noted that it had a type disadvantage against Zubat.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon, flexing his muscles.

"Try Scratching it." ordered Jake.

Jake's Mankey did so, scratching the opposing Zubat in the face.

He responded by leeching the life out of him, though thankfully it wasn't much, especially considering that Mankey was resistant to Bug-type attacks.

"Mankey..." murmured the monkey Pokemon in irritation.

Jake noticed that the Zubat was now having trouble flying in the air...and decided that now was the best time to throw a ball.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Jake as he tossed a Pokeball. Immediately, the opposing Zubat was sucked inside.

Though the bat Pokemon put up a brief struggle, the bat Pokemon ended up being trapped inside. Jake promptly smiled.

"Well, looks like I have four Pokemon now." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

Giving it a scan with his Pokedex, he determined that the bat Pokemon in question was male.

"Well, that's another masculine Pokemon for me." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, the duo noticed that one of the exits for Mt. Moon was nearby.

"Looks like we're home free!" squealed Lucy.

Jake nodded in agreement, though he wondered if there were any other Team Rocket Grunts inside the cave.

"Let's head to Cerulean City, shall we? Surely we're not far from it now..." questioned the Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy nodded in agreement.

And so the two of them exited Mt. Moon to head to the next gym.

_Now let's check on Chris and Ned..._

Chris and Ned continued their way towards Mt. Moon...and eventually, they noticed that there were about four Team Rocket Grunts nearby.

"Oh dear...it's more of those Team Rocket bozos...I wonder how many of them are in this mountain, anyway?" noted Chris.

"They sure love to capture Pokemon, don't they? Personally they're making me rather nervous." questioned Ned.

"Please...everyone knows that if they decide to battle us we'll be able to take them down with ease." answered the tomboy.

"But there's so many of them! I think we're outnumbered this time!" exclaimed the nerd.

"There's only four of them, we'll be fine." stated Chris.

"If you say so." answered Ned nervously.

Sure enough, there were a large amount of Pokemon native to Mt. Moon inside two nets that a duo of Team Rocket Grunts were hauling.

These Pokemon in question including Paras, Zubats, Geodudes, and of course, a few Clefairies, all of which looked rather concerned.

Where exactly was Team Rocket going to take them? They could end up anywhere...all they knew was they were being taken away from their home and being whisked away.

Of course, some of them were also carrying some fossils...since they were rather valuable too.

"Heh heh heh, these fossils are going to make us quite a bit of cash! I can't wait to sell them!" exclaimed one of the Team Rocket Grunts.

"Yeah, me too! Though personally I want to keep one for myself..." noted another one of the Team Rocket Grunts.

"Fine, but we're selling the rest!" answered yet another one of the Team Rocket Grunts. Apparently, he was the one who had put himself in charge.

Personally, Chris wondered what exactly they wanted with them. Didn't those goons realize that those fossils belonged in a museum?

Then again, these particular Team Rocket Grunts had probably never heard of a museum to begin with. For some reason, they never seemed to be too smart.

Ned in particular was rather worried about the situation. Something had to be done about what Team Rocket was up to.

"They're going to use those Pokemon and those fossils to fund their criminal empire! We have to stop them!" answered the nerd.

"Right, of course. I was getting to that. What kind of trainer do you think I am? Go Beedrill!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, she threw the Pokeball containing her bee Pokemon.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed Chris's Beedrill.

Suffice to say, it didn't take long for Beedrill to notice what Team Rocket was doing. She looked somewhat unhappy.

"Why don't you try stinging those Team Rocket Grunts? I'm pretty sure they deserve it..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Beedrill nodded, and started flying straight towards the grunts, much to their surprise.

"Oh man! There's a Beedrill coming right for us!" bellowed one of the Team Rocket Grunts.

"Run for cover!" yelled another one of the Team Rocket Grunts.

To make a long story short, Team Rocket immediately panicked and fled the mountain, dropping the net of Pokemon and the fossils they were all holding in the process..

The wild Pokemon released themselves from the net shortly afterwards and decided to flee as well...as far away from the Team Rocket Grunts as possible.

"Well, that takes care of those losers. Sheesh, it's like they thought that were the biggest criminals in the world or something...well, I sure proved them wrong." noted Chris.

"Say, they dropped a few fossils...should we take a look at them? I'm personally interested in researching them..." spoke Ned.

"If it will satisfy your curiousity, you little geek." answered the tomboy.

Ned frowned.

Curious, they decided to examine them. They immediately noticed that one of them had a large shell on it, while the other had a seashell on top.

For some strange reason, Chris got the urge to grab the one with the shell.

"I'll take this one!" exclaimed the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"I'll take the one with the seashell on top then...it seems like as good of a fossil as any." noted Ned.

Scannig them with their Pokedex, they discovered that the fossils they were holding were the Dome and Helix Fossils, respectively.

"I wonder which Pokemon they once were..." spoke the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"I just hope that they powerful Pokemon once." answered Chris.

Curious, they decided to see if they could grab the rest, but a nearby scientist had already beaten them to the punch.

"Mine! All mine! Hahahaha! My precious!" laughed said Pokemon trainer as he scooped up the fossils.

After placing them all in a rather large bag, he immediately ran away to find the nearest museum to donate them towards...which of course was in Pewter City.

Ned promptly sighed. It looks like they weren't going to be able to get any more fossils.

"I suppose those fossils are out of our hands now. At least he'll send them off to a good place...hopefully." spoke Ned.

"Why does he want those fossils so bad anyway? Is he greedy or something? Or is he just obsessed with them?" questioned Chris, wondering why he had acted so crazy when he gotten his hands on them.

Ned shrugged. Her guess was as good as his...or in other words, he had no idea either.

Immediately, the two Pokemon trainers noticed that there was an exit nearby.

"Well, time to leave this mountain once for all." spoke Chris.

Ned nodded in agreement. He found being inside this place to be rather scary, even though it was surprisingly bright inside the mountain.

And so the two of them left Mt. Moon to continue their Pokemon adventure.

_A few minutes later..._

Giovanni was in his office, overhearing some bad news from one of his employees regarding their ill-fated mission at Mt. Moon.

"Boss, I don't know how to tell you this! A bunch of kids came by and thwarted our operation! We didn't capture any Pokemon or fossils!" exclaimed the commanding Team Rocket Grunt.

"Was it the operation in Mt. Moon? You always were talking about it...you said that it was going to be the biggest heist in history." noted Giovanni.

"Yes, it was going to be one...it's a shame, we had so many Pokemon too." answered the grunt.

"Well, to be honest, it wasn't the only operation we're executing here. At this very moment, a duo of my best grunts are robbing a man of his technical machine as we speak. Pretty soon we'll be able to dig our way across Kanto." explained Giovanni.

"I suppose that's a decent consolation...though I really wish we could have pulled it off, boss." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"It doesn't matter now. Oddly enough, I told the two of them simply to go after two different Pokemon trainers, but they always seem to go the extra mile...unlike my incompetent trio here, who as it turns out, only obeyed one of the orders I gave them." explained Giovanni.

"We thought you just wanted her Clefairy!" exclaimed James.

"And that's why you need to listen to me better next time. But as it turns out, you won't actually need to lift a finger after all. Turns out that girl's on a quest to obtain eight gym badges..." explained Giovanni.

"We've never been able to earn a single Pokemon badge..." whined Jessie.

"Yes, that's because you two stink at being Pokemon trainers. But do you know what this means?" inquired the head honcho.

"What?" asked Meowth.

"It means that inevitably, she'll be heading to Celadon City." answered Giovanni.

"Isn't that where our hideout is?" inquired James.

"Yes it is. Do you see where I'm going with this?" questioned the leader of Team Rocket.

"Where are you going with this?" asked Jessie.

"Of course you wouldn't catch on...even though the plan is simple...as soon as she arrives in Celadon City...and as soon as nobody is noticing...we'll snatch the girl and then victory shall be ours!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Oh...now we get it! You're a genius, boss!" answered Meowth.

"Of course I am. Why do you think I'm in charge here? However, we're still unaware of where that AWOL Team Rocket Grunt of ours is...but if we can capture the girl, he won't really matter anymore." explained Giovanni.

"Right..." nodded James.

"So all we have to do now is wait." answered the boss.

The three Team Rocket trio shrugged and decided to leave his office. As they did so, Giovanni thought of all the money he could make.

"You know, should I charge her parents more than just a million dollars? Surely they have far more than that..." he thought.

He pondered his extortionist plans as he sat in his chair.

_Well, Chris and Ned have put an end to Team Rocket's scheme at Mt. Moon, by the looks of things._

_Oh dear, it looks like Lucy's slowly walking into a trap...poor girl. Hopefully Giovanni isn't going to succeed._

_Oh, and Jake has a Zubat now. Lucky him!_

_What Pokemon is one of our heroes going to catch next?_

_Adios!_


	14. Chapter 14: Abra Kadabra

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to meet with each other again...and in the following chapter, they're going to be battling with each other again too! Sound sweet?_

_But right before that Lucy's going to catch another Pokemon...and it's probably going to be a little surprising this time._

_Of course, you'll probably be able to tell by the chapter title...because I love making so many puns..._

_And one last thing...in this chapter, we're going to cutaway to a slightly different Pokemon trainer...heh heh heh._

**Chapter 14: Abra Kadabra**

After getting out of Mt. Moon, it didn't take too long for Lucy or Jake to make their way to Cerulean City.

Sure enough, they noticed there was another gym nearby.

"I wonder what type of Pokemon the Gym Leader here specializes in this time?" questioned Lucy.

Jake decided to read the sign. Apparently, the gym leader here was known by the name of Misty.

"Misty the tomboyish mermaid, huh? I think we have a Water-type specialist on our hands this time." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah...it looks like we do. Should we go look for a Grass or an Electric Pokemon?" answered Lucy.

"I suppose we can if we find that she's too tough for us to handle without them..." noted Jake.

Suddenly, Jake noticed that Officer Jenny was nearby standing in front of a nearby house, and suddenly felt nervous.

Lucy on the other hand immediately wanted to talk to her.

"What's the matter, Officer Jenny? You look down." asked the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"I'm afraid something bad happened here." answered the police officer. "Two of the residents here ended up being robbed."

"What?!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yes...thankfully they didn't take much...but it was a fairly valuable technical machine. I'm personally worried about them..." answered Officer Jenny.

"I sure hope that you can catch whoever did this." encouraged the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Thank you...to be honest, I initially came here after I heard about what was going on Mt. Moon, but when I traveled through the caves, none of the Team Rocket Grunts were there..." explained Officer Jenny.

"Yeah...we actually ran into a few of them while were visiting Mt. Moon, but my friend and I took care of that." answered Lucy.

"Did you?" inquired the police officer. "Well, I appreciate your assistance...but keep in mind that Team Rocket are rather nasty criminals...if you're going to pick a fight, don't underestimate them."

Lucy and her Clefairy nodded in agreement.

"Who was that friend of yours that helped you defeat them anyway?" asked Officer Jenny.

"Oh, he's right over there." answered Lucy.

Curious, Officer Jenny looked around, and noticed that Jake was nearby. He looked rather surprised to see her...and fairly nervous too.

"Er, hi there, Officer Jenny! How are you?" inquired Jake.

"Doing fine. How about you?" questioned Officer Jenny.

"I'm...heh heh heh...having a great day! There's not a cloud in the sky!" laughed the disguised Team Rocket Grunt nervously.

"Ah yes...it is rather nice outside today, isn't it? Shame that Team Rocket decided to ruin for everyone." answered the police officer.

"Heh heh heh, yeah!" exclaimed Jake, still worried that the police officer might recognize him.

"Why does he somehow look familiar?" thought Officer Jenny. Had she seen him somewhere before? Or someone that looked like him?

"Well, uh, good luck catching that criminal!" exclaimed the incognito Team Rocket Grunt.

"Good luck doing whatever it is you're doing too." answered the police officer.

Jake sweatdropped, realizing that Officer Jenny had just encouraged him to continue his criminal work, even though he wasn't so interested in doing it anymore after meeting Lucy.

"Mm-hmm. Where do you think they hopped off too anyway?" inquired Jake.

"Well to be honest, they're right outside the house on the other side..." answered Officer Jenny.

"Really?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt, surprised at how close his fellow Team Rocket members were.

"Yes...but since they're two of them and only one of me, I don't think it'd be smart for me to try to arrest them by myself...so I'm waiting for backup to arrive." explained the police officer.

"You mean like your sisters?" inquired Jake.

"Funnily enough, most of the police force in Kanto does consist of my sisters...but pretty much any police officer will do." explained Officer Jenny.

"I see...hope it arrives soon then...heh heh heh!" laughed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Is there any reason why you keep laughing?" questioned the police officer. "You're making me a little concerned here...I'm starting to wonder if you should visit Nurse Joy."

"I er, played with some laughing gas! Ha ha ha ha!" answered Jake.

"Oh...well, you really shouldn't have done that. Here's some water so that you can get rid of it." replied Officer Jenny, handing him a bottle of water.

"Er, thank you! I'll be seeing you later!" exclaimed Jake as he began to gulp it down.

Officer Jenny was about to say goodbye, but as it turns out, he had already ran away.

"Where are you going?" inquired Lucy, who began to chase after him.

Five trainers that were already on the bridge asked them if they wanted to participate in their challenge, but the duo of them ran right past them.

"I guess they weren't interested." noted one of the youngsters in charge of the challenge.

"Shame...they could have won a precious Nugget..." answered a lass.

"Yeah...we don't call it the Nugget Bridge for nothing." answered another lass.

"Can we call it the Golden Bridge?" inquired the lass.

Eventually, Jake stopped to catch his breath.

"Why'd you run off like that?" questioned Lucy.

"Sorry, I got nervous talking to Officer Jenny for so long." apologized Jake.

"Oh." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Where are we anyway?" inquired Lucy.

"I'm not sure." answered Jake.

Suddenly, Lucy noticed that there was a sleeping Pokemon nearby. Curious, she decided to scan it with her Pokedex.

"Abra, the Psi Pokemon. It sleeps eighteen hours a day, and can teleport its way to safety." explained the Pokedex.

"Interesting..." thought the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, the wild Abra started teleporting around the place.

"That Abra sure is fast, isn't it?" questioned Jake.

"Yeah...how am I supposed to catch it?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Lucy tried throwing a Pokeball, but it teleported out of the way.

"Abra..." murmured the Psi Pokemon. She was going to have to try harder than that.

Curious, Jake decided to send out his Grimer and have it attack the psychic Pokemon, but it sensed the Sludge Pokemon's approach, and teleported out of the way once again.

"Grimer..." murmured the Sludge Pokemon sadly.

"How are we supposed to catch it if it keeps teleporting away from both our Pokeballs and our Pokemon?" inquired Jake.

"We're going to have to think outside the box..." noted Lucy.

Suddenly, Lucy's Clefairy detached herself from her back...she had something in her hand.

"What's this? A loudspeaker? Where did you get that?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the Fairy Pokemon.

"You stole from a police officer?! What were you thinking?!" bellowed Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured the Pokemon sadly.

"You're going to need to give that back..." explained the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Lucy remembered that Abras spent most of their time sleeping...what would happen if she tried waking it up?

"Could you give me that loudspeaker you stole for a second?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded as she handed her a loudspeaker.

"Wake up!" bellowed the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, the Abra woke up with a start.

"Abra?!" exclaimed the Psi Pokemon in surprise. Who had stirred it from its slumber?

Lucy then tried throwing a Pokeball again.

The wild Abra, noticing that another Pokemon was being flung, tried to teleport out of its way again...but as it turned out, it couldn't use psi while it was awake.

"Abra!" exclaimed the Abra as it was sucked inside.

And for the exact same reason, it couldn't put up much of a fight while it wasn't sleeping either, not even against a Pokeball.

Sure enough, there was a familiar ding, and Abra was caught.

"Alright! That's my fourth Pokemon!" cheered Lucy.

"Funny...my Grimer once told me that you were rather ditzy...yet you seem rather intelligent to me..." noted Jake.

"Just because I'm ditzy doesn't mean I'm stupid." answered the mildly offended Pokemon trainer.

"True..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

Giving her new Abra a scan, she discovered that it was a boy.

"Looks like this is my first male Pokemon..." noted Lucy.

"That's nice." noted Jake.

"Well, we'll need to return that loudspeaker that my Clefairy stole from Officer Jenny...why does she keep doing that?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy shrugged. Maybe she was a kleptomaniac? Maybe because she was getting desperate to get supplies to repair her spaceship? Either one of these answers could be an explanation.

"But we'll need to cross that bridge again...and it's rather long too. Not to mention that there are about five different Pokemon trainers on that bridge..." answered Jake.

Lucy then remembered that she had caught a Pokemon that was capable of teleporting. Maybe he could give them a hand?

"Go, Abra!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer as she sent out her Psi Pokemon.

"Abra." murmured the psychic Pokemon, who oddly enough was once again asleep.

"Can you teleport us back to Cerulean City?" inquired Lucy.

Abra nodded...and pretty soon, along with the teleporting Pokemon himself, the duo and their starter Pokemon began to glow with psychic energy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Grimer!" bellowed Jake's Grimer.

"This feels rather weird..." noted Jake.

"Whoa!" yelled Lucy.

A few seconds later, they found themselves being whisked away across space and time. Well, maybe not time.

And a few more seconds later, they found themselves back in Cerulean City.

"Well, that didn't take very long...but I feel a bit woozy. Thanks for the help, Abra." noted Lucy as she returned her Abra to his Pokeball.

"Abra." nodded Lucy's Abra, who personally just wanted to keep sleeping.

"Let's give this loudspeaker back to Officer Jenny, shall we? Heh heh heh." inquired Jake nervously.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. She was starting to feel guilty about taking things that didn't belong to her...which unfortunately could not also be said for a lot of Team Rocket Grunts.

"And while we're at it, shouldn't we give her a hand? We already defeated a couple of Team Rocket Grunts before...I'm sure that we could do it again." answered Lucy.

Jake sweatdropped.

"Um, sure..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt, though he wasn't really looking forward to betraying his team once again.

_Now let's check on the other duo..._

"Why are we visiting the bike shop, Chris? Do we have enough cash to buy another bike?" inquired Ned.

"Heck no! We've still ninety-eight hundred thousand dollars to go!" exclaimed Chris.

"Aww..." complained Ned.

"We're just here to see if there are any discounted bikes." answered the tomboy.

"Oh." thought Ned. To be honest, part of him actually didn't mind traveling with Chris, and actually enjoyed it.

Nonetheless, he was hoping that he would somehow be able to eventually pay off the tomboy's debt. He still owed her one after all...and it wasn't just because his starter Pokemon had destroyed her bike. She had also done him a few favors in the past, such as saving his Eevee from Team Rocket.

Sure enough, there was in fact quite a few bikes that were on discount. One of them was even half-off.

But as it turns out, they still didn't have nearly enough money to pay for one of the bikes.

"Guess I'll have to keep traveling with you then." answered Ned.

Chris nodded. Part of her was actually looking forward to that, even though she had initially wanted to go on her journey solo.

"Admittedly, going on a solo Pokemon journey can be dangerous anyway...though so far it seems that only Ned has gotten into any trouble, really." thought Chris to herself.

"Are you going to buy anything?" inquired the bike shop owner.

"Sorry, your prices are too high for us." answered the tomboy.

"It's not like I'm running a charity here, you know!" exclaimed the shop owner angrily.

"If only you were..." murmured Ned.

"Get out!" demanded the store owner, pointing to the door.

Chris and Ned shrugged and decided to do what the Cerulean bike shop owner told them to do.

Maybe if they were lucky, they'd encounter another bike shop owner who was more generous...

"Sheesh, why was he so Krabby towards us?" inquired Ned.

"He's just a grumpy old man who was genetically engineered with no brain." answered Chris.

"I heard that!" bellowed the bike shop owner from inside the bike store.

"Whatever!" exclaimed Chris.

"You do realize that since I have a bike, I'll be able to catch you if you get on my bad side, am I right?" inquired the owner.

"Are you still using training wheels?" taunted the tomboy.

"Grah!" screeched the angered bike shop owner.

"Are you sure you should keep making fun of him?" inquired Ned.

"But it's so much fun...you should give it a try." explained Chris.

"But the bike shop owner scares me..." answered the nerd.

"And you call yourself a man?" taunted the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

Ned shrugged and decided to use the least offensive insult he could think of.

"Um...you smell funny?" inquired the nerd.

The bike owner shrugged. He honestly didn't know how he felt about that particular insult.

"If you need me, I'll be listening to the Pokemon theme song." answered the owner as he put on some headphones.

"He wants to be the very best, huh? That's a nice dream to have..." spoke Ned.

"Too bad nobody actually is the very best...well, except for me, of course. Everyone knows that." answered Chris.

"What?" inquired the nerd curiously.

"I won my first Pokemon battle, didn't I?" inquired the tomboy.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Have I lost a Pokemon battle before?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then I think you know it to be true. Try searching your feelings." answered Chris.

Ned shrugged and decided that maybe he should try searching his feelings...which typically involved girls.

Suddenly, they noticed that Officer Jenny was nearby.

"Do you think we should give her a hand?" inquired Ned.

"But I want to get my second Gym badge..." answered the tomboy.

"I still think we should help her...there seems to be so many criminals in Kanto these days." answered the nerd.

"Meh, all the more reason for us to take them down, then." nodded Chris.

And so the two of them agreed to help Officer Jenny.

"What seems to be the trouble?" inquired Ned.

"A couple of Team Rocket grunts just robbed two people here out of a rather valuable technical machine...apparently, they want to dig their way to no good." explained the police officer.

"Like to China?" inquired Chris.

"Very funny." answered Officer Jenny sarcastically.

"That's no good. The people here must be rather upset about all this." noted the nerd.

"That they are. And to make matters worse, I'm outnumbered two to one, so I can't stop them from making off with it. I tried calling for backup, but I think they got stuck in traffic or something." answered Officer Jenny.

"Lousy traffic jams..." thought Chris.

"Would you like us to help you?" inquired Ned.

"I suppose you can if you're up to this...but be careful. Team Rocket are a rather dangerous bunch of crooks...and did I mention that they're evil?" explained the police officer.

"Dangerous? I single-handedly thwarted their operation at Mt. Moon with only my Beedrill." answered Chris.

"That's rather impressive of you...but keep in mind that not every member of Team Rocket are simple-minded Grunts. Their leader is in fact a very experienced Pokemon trainer." explained Officer Jenny.

"He is? I'm starting to feel scared..." noted Ned.

"Try to be cautious, will you?" inquired the female police officer.

Ned and Chris nodded, though the latter felt that she wouldn't need to be.

As it turns out, the culprits were none other than Butch and Cassidy.

"Looks like a job well done." noted Cassidy.

"Our boss is going to be so proud of us." answered Butch.

"Maybe he'll finally remember your name?" inquired the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Hopefully...though personally I doubt it." answered the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"I don't get it...I usually remember your name...why can't anyone else?" inquired Cassidy.

"Beats me." answered Butch.

"Stop right there!" exclaimed Ned.

Curious, the duo turned around and discovered that there were two Pokemon trainers trying to stop them from getting away.

"Oh, would you look at that...two little kids want to stop us from succeeding in our evil scheme. How cute." explained Cassidy.

"Just a little kid?! I'm a teenager!" exclaimed Chris.

"Uh-huh, sure." answered Butch sarcastically.

"You won't get away with this!" bellowed Ned.

"Oh of course we will...right after we sing our motto!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"You have a motto too?" inquired Chris.

"Yes...though we assure you that it's far better than the song that trio of losers always sing, in case you've heard it before." answered Cassidy.

"Let's hope so." answered the tomboy.

"Prepare for trouble!" snag Cassidy.

"And make it double!" continued Butch.

"To infect the world with devastation!" bellowed Cassidy.

"To blight all people in our nation!" shouted Butch.

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!" cheered the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Cassidy!"

"Bob-I mean Butch!"

"Team Rocket circling the Earth day and night!" sang Cassidy.

"Surrender now or you'll surely lose the fight!" continued Butch.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Cassidy's Raticate, releasing herself from her Pokeball.

"Funny, that song sounds pretty similar to the one Jessie and James sang to us..." noted Ned.

"That's because they stole the lyrics from us because they couldn't think of an original song." answered Cassidy.

"I see..." nodded Chris.

"So, what did you think?" inquired Butch.

"I was impressed...almost." answered the tomboy.

"Fair enough." said Cassidy.

"You had better surrender to us...otherwise you're going to lose!" taunted Butch.

"No way, Bubby. We're not going to lose against Team Rocket for a million lightyears...especially not against you." taunted Chris.

"My name is Butch!" screamed the angry Team Rocket Grunt.

"Whatever, Billy Bob." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"I'll teach you to remember my name! Go, Primeape!" bellowed Butch as threw a Pokeball.

"Primeape!" bellowed the ape Pokemon as it was sent out.

"Go, Raticate!" exclaimed Cassidy as she tossed a Pokeball.

"Raticate?" inquired her Raticate. Why was she throwing her empty Pokeball?

Cassidy realized that her Pokemon was already on the battlefield, and promptly sweatdropped.

"Oh, that's right...silly me." answered the female Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, Lucy and Jake arrived on the scene.

"We're here to stop you!" exclaimed Lucy.

They promptly noticed that Chris and Ned were facing the Team Rocket Grunts as well.

"Er, are you facing these guys too?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Yes we are...thanks, but we don't need your help." answered the tomboy.

"Are you sure? These guys seem tough..." noted Ned.

"But I like a challenge!" exclaimed Chris.

Suddenly, Butch noticed that that one of the four Pokemon trainers looked familiar.

"Say, isn't that-"

"Alright, freeze!" exclaimed Officer Jenny, suddenly arriving on the scene as well along with her Growlithe.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed the canine Pokemon.

"No! It's Officer Jenny!" bellowed Cassidy.

"Primeape!" bellowed Butch's Primeape in fear.

"Raticate!" screamed Cassidy's Raticate.

"Run for it!" bellowed Butch.

Recalling their Pokemon, the two Team Rocket Grunts fled for the hills...which for some reason were just a few feet away from them.

Unfortunately, they were still in possession of the TM they stole.

Officer Jenny promptly sighed.

"Well, I suppose I can't always win...thanks for helping me anyway, though." answered the police officer.

"You're welcome, Officer Jenny!" cheered Lucy.

"Darn it! I was hoping that I'd actually be able to have a Pokemon battle with them!" exclaimed Chris.

"I on the other hand am rather relieved that they're gone." answered Ned.

"Me too. Let's go get the Cerulean City badge, shall we?" questioned Jake.

"Right...here we go!" exclaimed Lucy.

And so the four of them headed to Cerulean Gym...but they all had a question to ask.

"Which one of us should fight the Gym Leader first?" inquired Ned.

"Guess we'll be battling each other again over it!" cheered Chris.

"Right...well, here we go." answered Jake.

And so the two duos got to battle each other...for the second time.

"Well, this is going to be fun." thought Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

Ash Ketchum scratched his head. For some strange reason, he got the strange feeling that he wasn't the only Pokemon trainer that was fighting Team Rocket on a regular basis.

Curious, he decided to consult his Pikachu.

"Are you starting to get this strange feelings too?" inquired Ash.

Now that Pikachu thought of it, he was getting the strange feeling that there was another Pokemon that Team Rocket was determined to get their hands on...and for some strange reason, he got the feeling that this one was a girl.

"Pikachu..." thought the electric Pokemon. Whoever that Pokemon was, he wished them good luck.

Suddenly, they found themselves grabbed by two familiar Pokemon trainers that would never leave them alone for a million years.

"What the-" murmured Ash as he was stuffed into a cannon along with Pikachu.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed the electric mouse Pokemon.

"Let us go!" demanded the Pokemon trainer.

"Let's see how you like it, twerp." answered Jessie.

James lit the fuse for the cannon...and oddly enough, Ash Ketchum and Pikachu were the ones that got sent blasting off.

"Looks like we're experiencing irony!" bellowed Ash Ketchum as he was sent flying away along with Pikachu.

"Pika pi!" shouted the electric mouse Pokemon in agreement.

DING!

"Revenge is sweet." spoke Jessie, feeling rather satisfied with herself.

However, their victory was ultimately short-lived.

"Um, shouldn't we have stolen Pikachu instead of sending him blasting off too?" questioned Meowth.

Jessie and James sighed, realizing their mistake.

"Looks like Team Rocket's failed to steal Pikachu once again..." murmured the two.

Fortunately for Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, their landing was surprisingly painless.

"I'm starting to see why Team Rocket always comes out of this uninjured..." noted Ash Ketchum.

Pikachu nodded in agreement.

"At least they didn't actually go after you this time..." murmured the Pokemon trainer. "Still, I wonder if I have a female counterpart of sorts out there or something..."

"Pika pi?" inquired Pikachu. For some strange reason, he got the feeling that the Pokemon trainer in question had a Clefairy...considering how valuable those Pokemon were to Team Rocket, it wouldn't be very surprising.

They decided it was ultimately best not to dwell on it, and decided to resume their Kanto journey.

_Yes...in case you haven't noticed, this story takes place in a slightly alternate universe than the one that takes place in the anime...though as you can see I'll still be using a similar one so that I can poke fun at the running gags...like the bike gag for one...heh heh._

_Anyways, in the next chapter, there's going to be Pokemon battles! Hooray! Oh, and a gym leader too. Have fun!_


	15. Chapter 15: Rematching

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, we're going to see some Pokemon trainers battle each other...since you know, in the last chapter, Butch and Cassidy got chased away by Officer Jenny. I was hoping that she would catch them._

_But no matter. Let's see what happens when our heroes try battling each other again...though unfortunately there won't be a gym leader battle in this chapter...there will be gym leader battles in the next chapter though, I can tell you that._

_And yes, they will be against Misty. Isn't that obvious?_

**Chapter 15: Rematching**

"Alright then...as before, Lucy gets to battle Ned...while I get to battle Jake. Sound like a plan?" explained Chris.

"Is this a mini-tournament again?" inquired Jake.

"I don't really feel like having a third Pokemon battle this time...so I suppose the two people who win get to take a vote together, I guess. Of course, I know I'm going to win my battle already." answered the tomboy.

"What makes you so sure about that?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I already beat you once before, and I'm pretty sure I can do it again. Are you all set?" inquired Chris.

Jake, Lucy, and Ned all nodded.

"Alright then...I'll be sending out my Nidoran first." explained the tomboy as she tossed her Pokeball.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poisonous Pokemon as he was released from the Pokeball.

"Your Nidoran's a dude?" inquired Jake.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" questioned Chris.

"I just figured that it would be a girl...since well, you know." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Whatever. Let's just battle already! I'm already getting impatient!" nodded the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"I suppose it's time for me to try out my new Zubat...I bet he wants to participate in a Pokemon battle." noted Jake as he threw a Pokeball of his own.

However, as it turns out, his new Pokemon seemed unhappy about something.

"Zubat..." murmured Jake's Zubat. He had a frown on his face.

"Er, what's the matter?" inquired Jake.

Curious, he gave his Zubat a scan with his Pokedex.

"Note to Pokemon trainers, Zubats do not enjoy sunlight. If you leave them in the sun for too long, they'll get slightly burned." explained the Pokedex.

"Oh dear..." thought the Pokemon trainer. This might be a problem.

Fortunately for Zubat, there was some shade nearby, so that he could shield himself from the sun's rays.

Immediately, a smile appeared on his face. He promptly flew over to it.

"Is that better?" inquired Jake.

His Zubat nodded...though he wondered if he should try building up a resistance to sunlight. That would do him a lot of favors in the near future, by the looks of it.

Alternatively, he could simply try battling at night since he would likely have the advantage in that situation, though this would inevitably not always be the case.

However, as the bat Pokemon quickly found out, Chris wasn't happy that the opposing Pokemon was trying to fly away from her rather than stand and fight.

"Trying to get away from me? I don't think so! We're in the middle of a Pokemon battle here! Nidoran, after him!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed Chris's Nidoran.

Immediately, Nidoran started chasing after Zubat.

"Use Supersonic!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Zubat did so, causing Chris's Nidoran to feel dizzy.

"Nidoran..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer. "Now I have to switch..."

Sure enough, Chris switched her Pokemon...and sent out her Spearow.

"You think with that new Pokemon of yours you rule the sky, do you? Think again!" exclaimed Chris.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Chris's Spearow.

"I suppose I don't." noted Jake.

Immediately, her Spearow pursuited after Zubat.

"Zubat!" screeched Jake's Zubat as he got hit.

"Ah, I see that you like chasing after other Pokemon now..." noted Chris, realizing that Spearow could now use Pursuit.

Chris's Spearow nodded. Why not chase after Pokemon that liked to return to their Pokeballs? It wasn't like he had to sit there and watch them switch out.

"Er, you wouldn't happen to have any new tricks since our encounter at Mt. Moon, would you?" inquired Jake.

Zubat thought to himself if he had learned anything new. Unfortunately, he came up with nothing.

"Try using Supersonic then. That seemed to work well against Nidoran." noted Jake.

Jake's Zubat did so...but unfortunately Chris's Spearow covered his ears with his wings.

"Nice try...but my Spearow's not falling victim to that trick. Use Peck!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so, pecking into Jake's Zubat, who was now feeling rather weak.

"Oh dear...try leeching life out of it!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Zubat did so, but unfortunately this was rather ineffective due to Spearow being a Flying type.

"Zubat..." murmured Jake's Zubat sadly.

"Well, this battle's proving to be disappointing so far. Spearow, use Fury Attack!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so, attacking Jake's Zubat furiously. He could not tolerate such a ferocious assault, and he was knocked out.

Jake sighed as he returned his Zubat to his Pokeball.

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to send out my Rattata." spoke Jake as he sent out the rodent Pokemon.

Meanwhile, Ned sent out his Magikarp, sighing as he did so.

"Let's see if Magikarp really is the weakest Pokemon..." spoke Ned as he sent out the weak Pokemon.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon as he was sent out of his Pokeball.

Immediately, he realized that he was not on land, and immediately he started to splash about.

"Let's go, Abra!" exclaimed Lucy as she tossed Abra's Pokeball.

"Abra." murmured the Psi Pokemon as he was sent out. Couldn't he just get some sleep? Then again, he could still technically battle while he was asleep, unless for some strange reason a Pokemon inflicted it on him.

He didn't really understood how that worked...even though he was a Psychic Pokemon and therefore pretty intelligent.

"Magikarp, use Splash!" exclaimed Ned.

Magikarp splashed about...but it did nothing to Abra.

"Abra, use Teleport!" ordered Lucy.

Abra tried to do so...but Ned cut him off.

"Hey! You're not allowed to run away from a Pokemon battle!" exclaimed Ned.

"Abra..." murmured the Psi Pokemon sadly.

Suffice to say, it didn't take long for them to realize that they were at a stalemate.

"Oh dear...I don't think we're going to be make much headway, are we?" inquired Lucy.

"I suppose we could wait until they start using Struggle." suggested Ned.

"I think that would be take a long time..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"I suppose you're right...let's just say that both of them fainted, OK?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Lucy nodded as they recalled both Pokemon back to their Pokeballs.

"Alright then...I'll be sending out my Geodude next!" exclaimed the intelligent Pokemon trainer.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Hmm...I don't really have a Pokemon to deal with that...except for maybe my Clefairy." said Lucy.

Sure enough, her Clefairy detached herself from her back.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the starter Pokemon.

"Use Rock Throw!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Geodude did so, and started tossing rocks at Clefairy.

"Clef!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy as one hit her on the head.

"You OK there, buddy?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded. Fortunately, she wasn't hurt by the attack much.

"Good! Try using Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so, and started to breathe on Geodude. Said breath was extremely cold, which didn't bode too well for her considering that she was a Ground type.

"Geodude!" exclaimed Ned's Geodude as she was frozen solid.

"Oh man! You've got to thaw yourself out! You're a sitting Psyduck out there!" demanded Ned.

Ned's Geodude tried to do so...but unfortunately her icy prison wasn't an easy one to escape from.

This of course gave Lucy's Clefairy the opportunity to try using Metronome again.

"Let's see what you get this time." spoke Lucy.

Sure enough, Lucy's Clefairy began to use another move...this time, it was a punch that shattered the ice prison that Geodude was inside.

Though Geodude was technically made of hard rock, this proved to be surprisingly effective against her.

In fact, she fainted.

"Geodude..." murmured Ned's Geodude as swirls appeared in her eyes.

Ned sighed as he returned his ill-fated Pokemon to her Pokeball. Lucy's Clefairy herself returned to her back so that she could switch out for another Pokemon.

"Alright then...let's go Nidoran!" exclaimed Ned as he sent out his Nidoran.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Your Nidoran is a girl?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes it is. Why are you asking?" answered Ned.

"I just figured that yours would be a dude." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"To be honest, I was thinking that too. But I guess that's just the way it is." answered the nerd.

"Anyways, I'll be sending out my Pidgey now." spoke Lucy as she threw another Pokeball.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed her Pidgey as she was released from her Pokeball.

Immediately, she attacked the opposing Nidoran as fast as she could.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon as she was hit.

"Your Pidgey may be fast...but don't assume you're going to win this!" noted Ned.

"I won't...though admittedly that would be nice." answered Lucy.

"Double Kick!" ordered the not-so-masculine Pokemon trainer.

Ned's Nidoran did so, kicking Pidgey twice in succession. Though Pidgey was technically a Flying-type, this still did a significant amount of damage...since technically she was a normal-type too.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Lucy's Pidgey.

"Try blowing it away with Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did so, but though Ned's Nidoran took some damage from the attack, this ultimately did not blow her away.

"Pidgey..." murmured the pigeon Pokemon sadly.

"Good job! Now use Scratch!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Nidoran nodded as she started scratching the unfortunate bird Pokemon. She ended up fainting.

Lucy promptly sighed.

"Well, at least you learned a new technique." noted Lucy as she returned her Pidgey to her Pokeball.

On the other side of the battlefield, Chris was still facing off against Jake.

"Let's hope that your Rattata does better than your Zubat did." noted Chris.

"We'll see about that. Rattata, use Bite!" ordered Jake.

Rattata did so, sinking his teeth into Spearow.

"Spearow!" exclaimed the sparrow Pokemon, trying desperately to get him off.

"This might be a problem." noted Chris.

"I'm afraid so!" answered Jake.

After much difficulty, Chris's Spearow had managed to shake Jake's Rattata off...but the damage had already been done.

"Spearow..." murmured the bird Pokemon, who was now feeling rather beat up.

"Use Quick Attack!" exclaimed Jake.

"Use Peck!" ordered Chris.

Of course, as Jake well knew, Quick Attack almost always went first, meaning that Rattata was able to immediately attack Spearow and score the victory.

"Rattata!" cheered Jake's Rattata.

"Enjoy your victory while you can, little rodent, it's not going to last long." answered Chris as she recalled her Spearow.

Jake's Rattata frowned.

"Remember my old friend, Mr. Nidoran? Well guess what! This time you don't have your Zubat to save you!" exclaimed Chris as she sent out her poison Pokemon once more.

"Nidoran?" inquired Nidoran. To be honest, he was feeling a little confused that his trainer was sending him twice on the same day.

Of course, he wasn't nearly as confused as when that Zubat had hit him with that sonic screeching of his, much to his personal pleasure.

"He's a Normal Pokemon, isn't he? Try using Double Kick." ordered Chris.

Chris's Nidoran nodded, and Jake's Rattata ended up losing a lot of hit points.

"Rattata!" exclaimed Jake's Rattata. He was now feeling pretty exhausted.

"Use Quick Attack!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Rattata did so...but in the process, he made contact with Nidoran's poison barbs.

He unsurprisingly became poisoned...and he ended up fainting.

"Good job buddy." answered Jake as he recalled his Pokemon.

"What will you send out next?" inquired Chris.

"I'll be sending out my Mankey...even though he's a Fighting-type." answered Jake.

"Suit yourself." nodded Chris.

Meanwhile, Lucy had decided to send out her Butterfree next, since she had a quadruple resistance to fighting attacks.

"You can do this, Butterfree!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Butterfree!" cheered the butterfly Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

For some strange reason, she appeared to be having a hard time remembering her moves.

"Er, did you learn anything new while you were in that Pokeball?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded.

"Let's see now...it looks like you have access to three different types of powder now...interesting." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

The buttefly Pokemon nodded once again.

"Well, I suppose you don't need to harden yourself anymore...so I guess you can forget that." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded, and forgot how to use Harden, learning how to use Poison Powder instead.

However, she was still having trouble learning how to use new moves.

"Oh, that's right, we've got two more moves to decide...well, since our opponent here is immune to poison attacks...I suppose you can forget Poison Powder..." answered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded and forgot how to poison her foes.

"I guess you can forget String Shot too...since you can fly after things now." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

The butterfly Pokemon nodded as she forgot how to use String Shot.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." apologized Lucy.

"It's fine...my Pokemon's going to be learning new moves sooner or later." noted Ned.

His Nidoran nodded in agreement.

"Alright then...try putting it to sleep!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded, and made Ned's Nidoran take a snooze.

"No!" exclaimed Ned. Oddly enough, this reminded him of the time Chris's Jigglypuff did the same to his Eevee.

"Now follow up with a Confusion." ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, making Ned's Nidoran take a lot of damage. And yet she still did not wake up.

"Well, this isn't going to end well." noted Ned.

Sure enough, it didn't. Lucy ordered her Butterfree to use Confusion again, and she scored a critical hit. Ned's Nidoran went down.

"Darn it! If only I had my Geodude..." murmured Ned. "Well, might as well send out my starter."

"Right." agreed Lucy.

"Go Eevee!" exclaimed the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

"Eevee!" shouted the evolution Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"Funny, part of me wishes that I had an Eevee..." noted Lucy.

"Don't you already have a Clefairy?" questioned Ned.

"True..." answered Lucy.

"Use Tackle, Eevee!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Eevee did so, tackling into the opposing Butterfree.

"Use Stun Spore!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so...but Eevee blew it away.

"Good job, Eevee!" cheered Ned.

"Eve!" cheered the rabbit Pokemon.

"Oh dear, looks like I'm going to have do better than that." noted Lucy.

"Use Swift, Eevee!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Eevee did so, shooting stars at Lucy's Butterfree. She promptly realized that her bug Pokemon wasn't going to be able to take many more hits.

"Well, since Ned's Eevee's probably going to blow the powder away again...I suggest that you try using Confusion instead." suggested Lucy.

"Butter!" exclaimed Lucy's Butterfree, doing as her mistress demanded.

Immediately, Ned's Eevee got pelted with a mind blast...though he ultimately wasn't too harmed.

"Use Swift!" ordered the intelligent Pokemon trainer.

His Eevee did so...and Butterfree went down.

"Time for your time to shine again, Clefairy." explained Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy, glad to be on the battlefield once again.

"She sure is good at using Metronome..." noted Ned.

"I know...I heard that every time a Pokemon uses it they use a random move...though my Clefairy does seem to have relatively good control over it." agreed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered the wild Pokemon.

"I wish my Pokemon could use Metronome..." noted Ned.

"Maybe you'll find a Pokemon that can someday?" inquired Lucy.

"Let's hope so..." answered Ned.

Nearby, Chris was still battling with Jake.

"Mankey, use Scratch!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Mankey did so, doing some damage to Chris's Nidoran.

"Use Tackle!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Nidoran did so, tackling into Mankey. This made him very annoyed.

"Keep using Scratch!" commanded Jake.

Jake's Mankey did so, once again scratching Chris's Nidoran in the face.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poisonous Pokemon.

"Would you cut that out already? Use Double Kick!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Nidoran did so, doing much damage to Jake's Mankey...but also made him pretty angry.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon angrily.

Immediately, it started to scratch Nidoran as many times as it could in rapid succession.

"Alright...good to see you can do that now!" exclaimed Jake.

And to make matters worse for Chris, her Nidoran fainted from the attack.

"Nidoran..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

Chris sighed as she recalled her poisonous Pokemon.

"Two Pokemon left." noted the unfeminine Pokemon trainer as she pulled out another Pokeball.

Jake's Mankey nodded, though he asked if he could forget Scratch since Fury Swipes was potentially much better.

"Alright..." answered Jake.

The Pig Monkey smiled as he forget the no longer needed move.

However, Jake's Mankey was also poisoned in the process.

"Mankey..." murmured the unfortunate Pokemon.

"Let's see if you like my Beedrill." stated the unfeminine Pokemon trainer as she threw out another Pokeball.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the poison bee Pokemon as she was sent out.

"You don't look so good Mankey...can you get another Fury Swipes in?" inquired Jake.

Jake's Mankey nodded, and proceeded to scratch the Beedrill into submission.

However, shortly afterwards, he ended up fainting from the poison.

"Darn it! Now all I have left is my starter." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Is he any stronger than the last time we fought?" answered Chris.

"I think so, yeah." nodded Jake.

"Good." replied the female Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Ned and Lucy were almost finished with their Pokemon battles. Both of them had been injured beforehand, so it looked like the battle wasn't going to take too long.

"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Eevee did so, attacking Clefairy as quickly as he could...though she ultimately didn't faint.

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy did so, shaking her hands back and forth, which of course were glowing.

Sure enough, the Fairy Pokemon began to pummel Ned's Eevee into submission using her bare hands...and since Eevee was weak to Fighting-type moves...

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee as he fainted.

Ned promptly sighed as he returned his Eevee to his Pokeball. He had lost to Lucy again.

"Do you think I'm weak?" inquired Ned.

"No, I don't. I think you're a decent battler." answered Lucy.

"Because I think my partner thinks I'm a weakling..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Sorry to hear that...I hope that she starts treating you with respect." sympathized the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"By the way, could you do me a favor? To be honest, I was starting to get worried I wasn't going to pop into you again..." explained Ned.

"Sure..." nodded Lucy.

"You're well off, am I right?" questioned the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

"Yes, I am. Why?" asked the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"I was just wondering...if you could give me a million Pokedollars?" inquired Ned.

"One million Pokedollars?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Just like two of her Pokemon had done during her battle with the nerdy Pokemon trainer, Lucy promptly fainted.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy with concern.

"I'll er...leave the money you won in your pocket." answered Ned, who thankfully wasn't planning on robbing Lucy.

Meanwhile, Chris was battling with Jake, who had sent out his Grimer.

"OK...I know it may be two against one...but I think you still have a chance of winning this." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Grimer nodded. To be honest, he was looking forward to a challenge.

"Beedrill, use Fury Attack!" ordered Chris.

Beedrill did so, striking Jake's Grimer as many times as she could.

"This one's a Poison type too, right? Use Mudslap!" commanded Jake.

The sludge Pokemon did so, tossing mud into Beedrill's eyes.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bee Pokemon. Oddly, despite being able to fly, Beedrills could still be hit by ground attacks.

"Use String Shot!" commanded Chris.

Beedrill did so, trying to restrain her opponent so that she could get more attacks in.

Unfortunately, Grimer was able to slither his way through it. The unfeminine Pokemon trainer promptly facepalmed.

Immediately, the Sludge Pokemon...well, started throwing sludge at the opposing Beedrill.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bee Pokemon. Though she was technically a poison Pokemon herself, she wasn't exactly looking forward to having sludge on her face.

"Ah, you've learned Sludge...that's nice." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded in agreement...though admittedly it wasn't too effective against Beedrills and the like.

"Beedrill, use Fury Attack!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Beedrill did so, but Jake's Grimer ducked over it.

"Darn it!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"Try using Sludge again!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, throwing more sludge against Chris's Beedrill. This time, the bee Pokemon fainted.

"Time to send out my starter then..." answered Chris.

Sure enough, she sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

"Use Pound!" commanded Chris.

Jigglypuff did so, pounding into the opposing Grimer.

"Grimer..." murmured the sludge Pokemon, who was now feeling woozy.

"Grimer, use Sludge!" exclaimed Jake.

Grimer did so, flinging nasty goo at the enemy balloon Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff, who ended up being hit in the face.

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, causing Grimer to forget how to use the technique.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer.

"Not good...try using Mudslap!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so...but unfortunately he missed.

"Use Sing!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, and from there it was all over, as Chris had her Jigglypuff pound into Jake's Grimer shortly afterwards, which induced fainting.

"Not again..." murmured Jake, noting that his Grimer had already lost to Jigglypuff once before.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well, looks like I won the battle...what about you, Ned?" inquired Chris.

"Er, Lucy won, but then she passed out..." answered Ned.

"Guess I'll be the one deciding who goes first by myself then..." questioned the tomboy.

"Wait, Lucy passed out?!" exclaimed Jake.

"Yeah...I asked her for a million dollars..." answered the nerd.

"But you haven't even known her that long!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I know...I got a little desperate to pay back my debt for Chris..." nodded the nerd sadly.

"I suppose we're going to have to try harder than that." noted Chris.

Suddenly, Jake remembered the loudspeaker that Lucy's Clefairy stole.

"I suppose I'm going to have to be the one to give this back to Officer Jenny now..." worried the grunt.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

"What? You want to use the loudspeaker? Um, sure." answered Chris.

The balloon Pokemon did so...and sure enough, she began to sing her lullaby.

And of course, the loudspeaker only made things worse. Not only did Chris and Ned (as well as Lucy's Clefairy fall asleep), so did many people in Cerulean City.

Of course, Chris had been unaffected as she had been before. Apparently, she was made of steel or something.

"Well Jigglypuff, it looks like you just put everyone around the block to sleep." noted Chris.

"Jiggly..." murmured the balloon Pokemon sadly.

"Want to draw on their faces?" inquired the tomboy as she pulled out a marker.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff in agreement as she pulled out a marker of her own.

"Alright then! Let's go!" cheered Chris.

And so the two of them set forth to draw on the citizens of Cerulean City with their markers of doodling.

_Oh dear...as before, Jigglypuff has made everyone around her fall asleep...guess Chris and Ned won't be visiting the Cerulean Gym until later..._

_And yes, in the next chapter, we'll be encountering Misty...and we'll discover something about Ned that the gym leader wants to rectify...though oddly enough it won't involve not being so attracted to girls...since you know, guys can't help it._

_So I'll be seeing you later!_


	16. Chapter 16: Making A Splash

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Chris and Ned will be visiting the Cerulean Gym so that they can get their next badge...of course, they already did something like this in Pewter Gym...but that's just how the world of Pokemon works...you take on eight gym leaders and then head to the Pokemon League. It's always the rule._

_Well, let's see if our heroes can get their second badges, shall we? That's what you guys want, right?_

**Chapter 16: Making A Splash**

"Zzz..." slept Ned, who had fallen asleep thanks to Jigglypuff's singing.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" demanded Chris.

"What? Who's there?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"It's time for us to get our second gym badges!" exclaimed the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, right!" answered the nerd.

Suddenly, he noticed that somebody had drawn the word Dork on his forehead.

"Oh dear...I guess your Jigglypuff got carried away. How did she draw on so many people anyway?" inquired Ned.

"I gave her a hand...like I did with you." answered Chris.

"Oh..." answered the nerd, now feeling a bit offended.

"Now hurry up and get going." demanded the tomboy.

Ned nodded as they both entered the Pokemon gym.

Unsurprisingly, the battle arena was essentially a giant swimming pool.

"I guess this really is a water-type gym." noted Chris.

"Wasn't the battle arena in Brock's Gym made out of bedrock?" inquired Ned.

"Of course it was. That's why it was a Rock-type Gym." answered the tough Pokemon trainer.

"Right..." answered the nerd.

Sure enough, Misty was standing inside the battle arena...though she wasn't the first one to greet them.

It was her sisters.

"Hi there!" exclaimed Daisy.

"Welcome to Misty's Gym!" squealed Lily.

"We hope you enjoy your stay here!" cheered Violet.

All of a sudden, Ned started to feel rather flirtacious.

"I love every single one of you! I wish I were a water-type Gym Leader!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Remembering what had happened in a Pokemon center earlier, Chris realized he had not yet learned his lesson.

Suddenly, she pushed Ned right into the pool.

SPLASH!

"Aargh!" he screamed as he fell into the water.

"Still flirting with girls, are we?" asked Chris.

All of a sudden, Misty started to feel a strange sense of deja vu.

"Hmm...where have I seen this before?" inquired the water-type specialist.

However, as it turned out, Ned had a problem.

"Help me! I'm drowning!" exclaimed Ned.

"You do realize I shoved you into the shallow end of the pool, am I right?" inquired Chris.

"But I can't swim!" bellowed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Once again I'm going to have to be your knight in shining armor then..." answered the tomboy sarcastically.

Immediately, she tossed him a floatie so that he could get out of the water.

"Thank you so much!" exclaimed the Pokemon trainer.

"But I'm the one who shoved you in there in the first place." pointed out Chris.

"Who cares?" inquired Ned as he started to shake himself off.

"So, are you the two of you both here to get a gym badge?" asked Misty.

"Yes, we are." answered Chris.

"Alright then...who would you say is the stronger out of you two?" questioned the Gym Leader.

Chris pointed to herself while Ned pointed to Chris.

"Alright then...you'll be battling with me...as for your friend, he can consult my sisters for it." explained Misty.

"Sounds good." answered the Pokemon trainer as she walked with Misty.

Realizing that he was now alone, he decided to ask him a question.

"Am I going to have to battle you three at once?" questioned Ned.

"Hmm...actually, we've got something different in mind." answered Daisy.

"We're going to teach you how to swim." explained Violet.

"What?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"And if you do well enough, you'll get your Gym badge!" bellowed Lily.

"Really? No gym battle?" inquired Ned.

"To be honest...we're not all that good at Pokemon battling..." explained Daisy.

"We figured that being able to swim would be helpful for you as a Pokemon trainer..." answered Violet.

"Really?" inquired Ned.

"You're inevitably going to be surfing on your Pokemon, am I right?" inquired Lily.

"True..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then! Here are your swim trunks!" exclaimed Daisy, handing Ned a swimsuit.

"Do I get water wings, too?" inquired the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"Of course you do!" answered Violet.

"Alright!" exclaimed Ned.

"Just try not to flirt with us too much...though admittedly a lot of other Pokemon trainers have done it in the past." answered Lily.

"OK..." nodded the unmasculine Pokemon trainer, whose cheeks began to turn red.

_Let's watch Chris battle Misty shall we?_

"So, did my friend Brock try flirting with you? I see you have his badge." answered Misty.

"Yes...in fact, he gave his badge to me for free along with my buddy here." nodded Chris.

"Why doesn't that surprise me...to be honest, I've always had to keep dragging him by the ear to keep him from flirting so much." nodded the Gym Leader.

"I'm starting to feel your pain." answered the tomboy, noting how her partner typically acted the same way around girls.

"Anyways, are you ready to battle me? I know that your encounter with Brock probably disappointed you..." answered Misty.

"You really understand me...and yes." nodded Chris.

"Alright!" exclaimed the water-type Gym Leader.

Sure enough, the referee came by...unlike the one in Brock's Gym, he was wearing a swimsuit.

"Do you guys dress up accordingly depending on the gym?" inquired Chris.

"Yes we do! Don't use any Fire-type Pokemon!" warned the referee.

"I don't have any Fire-type Pokemon..." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh...never mind then!" nodded the coach.

"Staryu, I choose you!" exclaimed Misty.

"Staryu!" exclaimed the starfish Pokemon.

Chris immediately gave the Pokemon a scan.

"Staryu, the Star Shape Pokemon! It can regenerate any appendage it loses in battle!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"That's interesting..." noted the Pokemon trainer.

Curiously enough, according to the Pokedex, Staryus did not actually have genders.

"Isn't that interesting." thought Chris.

She decided to send out her Beedrill to take out the opposing Staryu.

"Alright, Beedrill...use Fury Attack!" demanded the Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Beedrill started to attack Staryu as fast as she could, which was pretty fast.

"Yikes...already my Staryu is taking a beating...use Water Pulse!" noted Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so, hitting Beedrill with...well, a pulse of water.

"Well, it's good to see you that you're not simply spewing out Bubbles or hitting my Pokemon with a Water Gun..." noted Chris.

"I'm not a water-type Gym Leader for nothing, you know!" answered Misty.

"Yeah, I get that." answered the tomboy.

Suddenly, Beedrill began to focus some energy.

"Oh, would you look at that...looks like my Beedrill's going to get a critical hit now!" exclaimed Chris.

"Possibly..." answered the water-type specialist, who was starting to feel a bit concerned.

"Use Recover!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so, regenerating some of the injuries that had been inflicted on it from Beedrill earlier.

"Darn it! That's so annoying! Hit it with Fury Attack, Beedrill!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Beedrill did so, and this time, she got a critical hit.

"Staryu!" exclaimed the star-shaped Pokemon.

"This isn't looking good so far...use Tackle!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so, knocking itself into Chris's Beedrill.

"Beedrill..." murmured Chris's Beedrill, who was now feeling exhausted.

"Use Poison Sting!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Beedrill did so, stinging Staryu and causing it to faint.

"One down, one to go." answered the tomboy.

"Let's see if you can defeat my next Pokemon! Go, Starmie!" exclaimed Misty.

"Starmie!" exclaimed the other starfish Pokemon as it was released from her Pokeball.

"I take it that this is Staryu's evolved form?" inquired Chris.

"How'd you guess?" asked Misty.

"Lucky guess." answered the tomboy sarcastically as she began to scan the opposing Pokemon with her Pokedex.

"Starmie, the Mysterious Pokemon. Its core glows with the seven colors of the rainbow." explained the Pokedex.

"Oh, would you look at that? Its core is shiny." spoke Chris.

"Starmie, use Rapid Spin!" exclaimed Misty.

Starmie did so, spinning into Beedrill as fast as it could. She unfortunately didn't dodge the attack, and she fainted.

"Way to go, Starmie!" cheered on the water-type Gym Leader.

"Well, time for me to use my starter then." answered Chris as she recalled her Beedrill.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris as she hurled her Pokeball.

Unfortunately, though her Pokeball sent out Jigglypuff nonetheless, it ended up falling into the pool.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Jigglypuff as she was sent out. Why was she in a pool?

"Darn it! At least Pokeballs can float..." acknowledged Chris.

Misty promptly dived into the water and gave the Pokeball towards the fellow Pokemon trainer.

"Um, thanks." answered Chris. "Too bad it's soggy now..."

Fortunately for Jigglypuff, since she was a balloon Pokemon, she was able to float to the surface.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the balloon Pokemon.

However, she had the disadvantage of being in the water where Starmie was lurking.

"Jiggly?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff. For some strange reason, she felt that she wasn't in her element.

"Jigglypuff, use Sing!" exclaimed Chris.

Jigglypuff began to sing a song to put the Starmie to sleep...

...but it quickly dove underwater in response, so it didn't hear the song too well...

...and ultimately, it didn't fall asleep.

"Darn it! I was hoping that would work!" bellowed the Pokemon trainer.

"I'm afraid not! Use Water Pulse, Starmie!" exclaimed Misty.

Misty's Starmie did so, pelting Jigglypuff with a surprisingly concussive blast of water.

"Jigglypuff!" yelled the balloon Pokemon.

"Hmm...you wouldn't happen to be able to absorb water, could you? You are a balloon Pokemon..." noted Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and started using the water to swell herself up.

"Hmm?" inquired Misty.

Pretty soon, she was now far larger than before. In fact, she was pretty huge.

"Try using Pound now." answered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, pummeling into Misty's Starmie as hard as she could...which was now powerful enough to take the mystifying Pokemon down in one shot.

"Wow..." murmured Misty, impressed at Chris's unorthodox yet effective tactics.

"What? I turned my Jigglypuff into a water balloon. Is that against the rules or something?" inquired Chris.

"No it's not. I suppose you deserve this!" exclaimed Misty as she handed Chris a Cascade Badge along with a fair sum of Pokedollars.

"Thanks for actually being a challenge and not being wimpy like Brock was..." answered Chris.

"If it makes you feel any better...he's usually an effective Pokemon trainer as long as there aren't any pretty girls around." noted Misty.

"Has he tried flirting with you before?" asked Chris.

"Oddly enough, no he hasn't...maybe he doesn't like Water-type Pokemon or something?" questioned the water-type Gym Leader.

"Maybe..." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Well, have fun getting to the Vermillion Gym...the gym leader there is a lieutenant in the military." explained Misty.

"He is? Awesome!" exclaimed Chris, who all of a sudden was very much looking forward to battling him.

Misty sweatdropped.

"Sheesh...she's even more of a tomboy than I am." thought the water-type Gym Leader.

_Let's see what's happening at the same time with Ned on the shallow side of the pool..._

"Are you ready?" inquired Daisy.

"I...guess." answered Ned, who was feeling rather nervous about it all.

"Alright then! Dive into the water!" exclaimed Lily.

Ned reluctantly did so, and started thrashing about.

"Not again! I'm not sure if I'm going to make it this time!" exclaimed the nerd, who once more thought he was drowning.

"No you're not. Why do you think we got you those water wings?" inquired Violet.

"Oh, right." answered Ned.

"Now try moving your feet." explained Daisy.

Ned did so, who was now starting to rise to the surface.

"Now try moving your arms in front of you." suggested Lily.

Ned did so, who all of a sudden was starting to swim.

"I think I'm starting to learn this..." asked Ned.

"Mm-hmm...keep at it for a few minutes longer and we'll give you the badge." explained Violet.

Ned nodded as he continued to swim. Personally, he wondered if he should try sending out his Pokemon.

Eventually, he settled on his Eevee and Magikarp...but he then remembered that he had left them with the lab clothes his dad had given him.

"Can I go get some of my Pokemon?" inquired Ned.

"Hurry on back!" answered Daisy.

Sure enough, he came by a few minutes later along with two of his Pokeballs.

"Go Eevee! Go Magikarp!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer as he threw them...as far away from the pool as he could.

"Eevee!" bellowed the evolution Pokemon.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon, who was panicking because he wasn't in water.

Ned gently put his Magikarp in the water. His Eevee on the other hand immediately dived into the pool.

"I take it you already know how to swim?" asked Ned.

His Eevee nodded.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

"Alright then." answered Ned as he dived back into the pool.

Sure enough, within a few minutes or so, he had learned how to swim fairly effectively, and no longer needed the water wings.

Oddly enough, despite apparently being the weakest Pokemon in existence, his Magikarp could swim surprisingly well. Then again, it was technically still a fish.

"You know, being in the pool feels surprisingly refreshing. I'm starting to see why Misty always does it." he thought.

"Alright, you pass." explained Daisy.

"That went surprisingly quickly." noted Ned as he stepped out of the pool.

"Just try to remember it for us, OK?" asked Lily as she handed him the Cascade Badge.

"OK...can I have your phone numbers?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

The three girls all sweatdropped.

"Er...if you need us, we'll usually be in the Cerulean Gym." answered Violet.

"OK." nodded Ned as he began to recall his Pokemon.

"Magikarp..." murmured the fish Pokemon sadly as he was separated from the pool.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the evolution Pokemon as he was sent back into his Pokeball, having enjoyed his swim.

"By the way, you should try training that Magikarp." explained Daisy.

"How come?" inquired Ned.

"You'll get a pleasant surprise...though you might have trouble controlling your Magikarp afterwards." noted Violet.

"Oh...alright then." acknowledged the nerdy Pokemon trainer. Was it possibly for Magikarp to evolve into something better? Maybe he should try using his Pokedex sometime.

"See ya!" exclaimed all three of the sisters at once.

_A few minutes later..._

"So, did you get your badge?" asked Chris.

"I sure did!" exclaimed Ned.

"Good, because I don't feel like waiting for you. The next gym leader on our list is part of the military." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"He's part of the what?!" exclaimed the unmasculine Pokemon trainer, who all of a sudden was feeling frightened.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" asked Chris.

"It's n-nothing! Let's head to Vermillion City! Heh heh heh!" answered Ned.

"OK..." answered the tomboy.

Sure enough, they noticed that Lucy and Jake were walking in. Apparently they had woken up from the nap.

"Did you give that loudspeaker to Officer Jenny?" asked Lucy.

"Uh, y-yeah! Heh heh!" exclaimed Jake, who got the feeling that he just narrowly avoided being arrested in the process.

"Smell you later!" shouted Chris as she and Ned left the gym.

"Gee, it looks like they're one step ahead of us. And why does she think we're so smelly?" questioned Lucy.

"For some strange reason, rivals always are. And about that...maybe it's because of my Grimer?" answered Jake.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement, though she personally wondered why.

Sure enough, Misty was busy healing her Pokemon.

"Good thing I have some Revives and some Potions." noted Misty. "I don't want to have to keep visiting Nurse Joy all the time..."

"Hi there Misty! You're the gym leader here, right?" asked Jake.

"Yes I am...though to be honest my sisters here used to hold the title." answered the water-type Gym Leader.

Daisy, Violet, and Lily all nodded their heads.

"OK then." answered Lucy.

"So, which one of you wants to battle me? If you don't feel up to doing that, you can give my sisters a hand. They're a lot more generous with Gym Badges." explained Misty.

Lucy immediately accepted her challenge...but Jake, realizing that he had lost his first gym battle (and of course didn't want it to happen again), deciding to help Misty's sisters instead.

"Alright then. Walk with me, young lady!" exclaimed Misty.

"Hooray!" squealed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy. It was time for another gym battle.

"So, do you happen to know how to swim?" asked Daisy.

"Yes I do." answered Jake.

"Alright then..." nodded Lily.

"Could you help us clean our pool?" questioned Violet.

"I was kind of expecting a Pokemon battle with you guys..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh...about that, we're not really much of a Pokemon trainer, actually." explained Daisy.

"You're not?" asked Jake.

"Yeah...whenever we participate in a Pokemon battle, we usually end up losing..." noted Violet.

"A trainer by the name of Gary Oak came by and defeated us all with ease..." explained Lily.

"That's unfortunate." answered Jake.

"I suppose if you want you can try battling our Seel for the badge...he actually likes participating in Pokemon battles." explained Daisy.

"Just try to go easy on it." answered Violet.

"Alright then, I'll send out my Rattata." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt as he threw his Pokeball.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the rodent Pokemon.

"Seel?" inquired the seal Pokemon.

Jake gave the water and ice Pokemon a scan.

"Seel, the Sea Lion Pokemon. It loves freezing cold conditions, and can use its horn to bash through ice." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"I take it that's why you like swimming in that pool, then?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

Seel promptly started slapping his fins together.

"I'll take that as a yes." answered the Pokemon trainer.

Seel immediately hit Rattata with a rather cold gust of wind.

"Rattata..." murmured the rodent Pokemon, whose teeth were now chattering.

"Good thing you have fur to keep you warm." noted Jake.

Jake's Rattata nodded his head in agreement.

"Try using Bite!" ordered the male Pokemon trainer.

The rodent Pokemon did so, biting into the sea lion Pokemon.

"Seel!" exclaimed the sea lion Pokemon.

"I'm starting to wonder if we should make him surrender..." questioned Lily.

"Let's see how the battle goes." answered Daisy.

Immediately, Seel headbutted into Rattata, and he ended up fainting.

"Darn it, I lost!" exclaimed Jake.

"Wow! He actually won!" bellowed Lily.

"Here is your badge." answered Violet.

"But I lost the battle!" exclaimed the confused Pokemon trainer.

"Was that the strongest Pokemon on your team?" questioned Daisy.

"No, he wasn't." answered Jake.

"Then you listened to our instructions." answered Lily as she handed him a Cascade Badge.

"Six to go, I guess...I suppose it's just as well...did I mention that my starter Pokemon is a Grimer?" acknowledged the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh...well, if you sent him out, we'd have a lot of pool cleaning to do, now would we?" inquired Daisy.

Lily and Daisy both nodded in agreement.

"All the more reason

Meanwhile, Lucy was having her second Gym Leader battle.

"Did Brock try to flirt with you?" questioned Misty.

"No, he didn't, why?" asked Lucy.

"Just wondering...he always seems to have poor impulse control these days." answered the gym leader.

"Sorry to hear that." acknowledged the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Anyways...go Staryu!" exclaimed Misty as she tossed a Pokeball.

"Staryu!" bellowed the star shape Pokemon.

"Go, Butterfree!" shouted Lucy as she tossed a Pokeball of her own.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the butterfly Pokemon as she was sent out of her Pokeball.

"Staryu, use Tackle!" ordered Misty.

Staryu did so, tackling into the flying Pokemon.

"Butterfree!" bellowed the bug Pokemon as she was hit.

"Use Sleep Powder!" ordered Lucy.

Butterfree did so...but unfortunately, since the battle was taking place in a pool, the powder simply ended up being washed away.

"Oh no..." thought the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Use Water Pulse!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so, blasting the unfortunate butterfly Pokemon with water, who was now feeling rather weak.

"This doesn't look too good...use Confusion." murmured Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, harming Misty's Staryu...but unfortunately it was still able to fight.

"Use Water Pulse again!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so...and this time the butterfly Pokemon fainted.

"This is off to a bad start." acknowledged the wealthy Pokemon trainer as she recalled her bug Pokemon.

Lucy's Clefairy detached herself from her back.

"Your starter Pokemon doesn't like Pokeballs, huh?" questioned Misty.

"Nope, she does not." answered Lucy.

"Funny, a friend of mine has a Pikachu that doesn't like being stored in a Pokeball either." answered the gym leader.

"Really?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...what a coincidence...anyways, I'll let your Clefairy have the first shot, since she's your last Pokemon." explained Misty.

"Alright...use Metronome, Clefairy!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and ended up taking down the opposing Staryu with a vicious thunder strike.

"Staryu..." murmured the star shape Pokemon, whose core was now flickering.

"Do Staryus do that whenever they faint? I don't think that they have eyes..." answered Lucy.

"Yes, they do." answered Misty as she returned her Staryu. "Go Starmie!"

Sure enough, Misty flung another Pokeball, and this time...it was a much more powerful starfish Pokemon.

"Starmie!" exclaimed the star shape Pokemon.

"Use Water Pulse!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Starmie did so, pummeling Lucy's Clefairy with a water attack.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon. All of a sudden, she was feeling pretty dizzy.

"Oh no! You're confused!" exclaimed Lucy. "Try using Metronome!"

Lucy's Clefairy did so, but since she was feeling dizzy, she couldn't focus the move too well...and she ended up simply splashing in the water, which did nothing.

"Use Rapid Spin!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Starmie did as its mistress told her to do, spinning into Clefairy and making her even more confused.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy thankfully was able to get a working attack in this time...though unfortunately it wasn't the type of move she had intended considering her opponent was a Psychic-type.

Immediately, she started focusing for a massive punch...

...but Starmie cut her off.

"Use Water Pulse again!" exclaimed Misty.

"Starmie!" bellowed the mysterious Pokemon as she did so.

Not only did this break Clefairy's concentration...this was enough to make her faint. Lucy sighed realizing what this meant.

"Well, you made a good effort. If you want you can try battling my sisters for a Cascade Badge instead like your friend did." answered Misty.

"No thanks! I'm sure I'll be able to beat you next time!" exclaimed Lucy, who still was feeling fairly cheerful.

"That's a pretty good answer. Don't give up!" answered Misty.

Lucy nodded.

Realizing that Lucy did not have a Cascade Badge, Jake wondered why that she still had a smile on her face.

"I don't get it...what are you so happy about? You lost the gym battle!" inquired Jake.

"I just figured that I could try again next time...there are lots of Pokemon trainers I can battle in the future, am I right?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah..." murmured Jake. Oddly enough, he didn't feel the same way when he lost to Brock...he in fact had been rather pessimistic about it.

He was in fact rather thankfully that he had encountered that wild Mankey to help him defeat the rock-type Gym Leader...even if he did end up stealing his hat.

"So...should we search for more Pokemon?" inquired Lucy.

"I suppose we can try the Nugget Bridge challenge." answered Jake.

Oddly enough, he began to think of something that discouraged him from participating in that particular challenge...though he couldn't quite remember what.

"Alright then! Let's go!" exclaimed the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Jake nodded. He personally wished that he could be more like Lucy...though considering his troubled past, that wouldn't be too easy.

Nonetheless, he agreed to help her with the challenge.

"I heard that we get a pretty decent prize for completing it..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sounds good." nodded Lucy.

And so the two of them set forth to obtain the challenge.

_Oh dear...Lucy lost her second gym battle...kind of like what happened to poor Jake on his first gym leader battle...though unlike him, she was rather optimistic about it..._

_Unfortunately for the two of them, they're going to have a chance encounter with yet another Team Rocket Grunt, whose interesting in recruiting some followers to join him in Team Rocket's cause of making trouble in Kanto._

_Will they able to defeat him? And what will come of Chris and Ned? And will any more Pokemon be caught?_

_Tune in next time!_


	17. Chapter 17: The Nugget Bridge

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to try the Nugget Bridge challenge...you know, with five different Pokemon trainers and all to help Lucy defeat Misty..._

_Two of her Pokemon will be evolving this time...oh, and one of the four characters in my story will be getting one of the Kanto starter Pokemon...does it sound good?_

**Chapter 17: The Nugget Bridge**

After finally returning that loudspeaker to Officer Jenny (and a nap), Lucy was rather eager to start the Nugget Bridge challenge to get her reward...even though she was technically already rich.

"I guess I'll wait for you on the other side so that I can cheer you on if you win." said Jake as he went to the other side of the bridge.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement. Hopefully she would be able to win.

"So, are you ready for the Nugget Bridge challenge?" asked a nearby bug catcher.

"As a matter of fact, I am." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed her Clefairy in agreement. She was looking forward for a challenge...though admittedly she had lost her last battle.

"Alright then...let's get to it!" exclaimed the bug user.

Immediately, the bug catcher sent out his Caterpie.

"Looks like this is a job for Pidgey then." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she tossed a Pokeball.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Caterpie, use String Shot!" ordered the bug catcher.

Caterpie did so, wrapping Pidgey up in silk.

"Pidgey, use Gust!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately for Caterpie, Pidgey was able to blow away the string fairly easily...as well as Caterpie himself, who fainted very quickly.

"Darn it! I need to start evolving my Pokemon already..." said the bug catcher as he recalled his Pokemon.

"At least I have three Pokemon left." he continued as he tossed another Pokeball.

"Weedle!" exclaimed the poisonous bug Pokemon.

"This might take a while..." thought Lucy.

However, she was given a chance to switch Pokemon.

"Did you know that if you send out a Pokemon and then immediately switch it out, your Pokemon will still gain experience?" inquired the bug catcher.

"Really?" questioned Lucy. "I've been trying to raise my Abra..."

She decided to temporarily switch out her Pidgey for an Abra, and then back again.

"Abra?" inquired the Abra, wondering why he was being recalled so quickly.

"I'm trying out a new strategy." explained Lucy.

"Pidgey?" asked Lucy's Pidgey, curious as to why she was being sent out once again so quickly as well.

Of course, this gave Weedle an opportunity to attack.

"Weedle, use Poison Sting!" exclaimed the bug catcher.

Fortunately, he missed.

"Pidgey, use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed Pidgey as she began to blow the bug Pokemon again.

Like Caterpie, Weedle couldn't handle a flying attack due to being a rather weak bug Pokemon, and fainted as well.

"Darn it! I'm not doing so well here..." noted the bug catcher. "Well, at least I have an evolved Pokemon to send out now."

Sure enough, the bug catcher sent out his Metapod.

"Metapod!" exclaimed the cocoon Pokemon.

As before, Lucy sent out her Abra and then her Pidgey again.

Though this gave the bug catcher a chance to attack, this didn't do him much good.

"Use Harden!" ordered the Pokemon trainer.

The bug catcher's Metapod did so, hardening himself to avoid taking any more damage.

"Use Gust!" commanded Lucy yet again.

Lucy's Pidgey did so, blowing Metapod away. Unlike Caterpie and Weedle, this wasn't quite enough to make him faint however.

"Use Tackle!" ordered the bug catcher.

The bug catcher's Metapod did so, pummeling into Pidgey, though she wasn't hurt very much.

"Pidgey, time for yet another round of wind." explained Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did so...and this time, Metapod fainted.

"Oh man! I only have one Pokemon left now!" exclaimed the bug catcher as he sent out his Kakuna.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed the poisonous cocoon Pokemon.

"I guess my Pidgey's wiping out your entire team..." said Lucy as she switched out her Pidgey for her Abra.

"I'm afraid so! Why is she so strong?" inquired the bug catcher.

"Well, you are using Bug types against it...maybe you need to make a more balanced Pokemon team?" asked Lucy.

"But I love bug types!" exclaimed the bug-loving Pokemon trainer.

"That doesn't mean all the Pokemon in your team have to be bugs." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

The bug catcher sighed.

"Pidgey, use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey did so...and since it was a critical hit this time, the bug catcher's Kakuna was one-shotted.

"Kakuna!" exclaimed the cocoon Pokemon as he fainted.

"Man...I lost horribly." noted the bug catcher as he handed Lucy a few Pokedollars.

"So, do I get the nugget?" asked Lucy.

"Actually, you're going to have to defeat four other Pokemon trainers before you can get your reward." explained the bug user.

"Oh..." acknowledged the female Pokemon trainer.

"Though if you do as well against my buddies as you did against me...I don't think this challenge is going to take you very long." answered the bug catcher.

"Alright then." nodded Lucy.

"Anyways, I've done my best, so I have no regrets!" cheered the bug-type Pokemon trainer.

"What about that time you played with that Beedrill nest?" inquired a nearby lass.

The bug catcher sweatdropped.

"Are you number two?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I am. You ready to fight me?" asked the lass.

Lucy nodded.

"Alright then, go Pidgey!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Funny...I have a Pidgey too." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Let's see whose is better!" answered the lass.

"OK then." nodded Lucy.

The lass sent out her Pidgey while Lucy sent out...her Abra.

"Abra?" inquired Lucy's Abra. He thought that Lucy was going to send out her Pidgey.

"Where's the Pidgey? I know you used her in that battle a few minutes ago..." pointed out the lass.

"I'm raising my Abra." explained Lucy.

"Oh. Well, switch him out then." ordered the lass.

The female Pokemon trainer did so, and sent out her Pidgey.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the young bird Pokemon.

"Use Gust!" both Pokemon trainers exclaimed.

The two bird Pokemon did so, sending each other flying back a few feet.

"So far it looks like we're at a stalemate." spoke the lass.

Suddenly, Lucy's Pidgey started to flap her wings once again...however, instead of harming her fellow Pidgey, it did something else entirely.

"Pidgey!" exclaimed the lass's Pidgey as she was returned to her Pokeball.

"What's going on?" inquired the lass.

Suddenly, the lass's Oddish was sent out of her Pokeball instead.

"Oddish?" inquired the confused grass Pokemon.

Lucy gave her unexpected new enemy a scan.

"Oddish, the Weed Pokemon. It buries itself in the daytime and scatters seeds at night." read the Pokedex.

"Funny, it seems to enjoy being out in the sunlight to me..." questioned the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"I don't get it...why did my Oddish get forced out?" asked the lass.

"Maybe it had something to do with that wind my Pidgey blew earlier?" questioned Lucy.

Sure enough, Lucy's Pidgey had apparently learned a new move...because it was having a hard time remembering its old ones.

"Excuse me for a moment while I make Pidgey forget one of her moves..." nodded Lucy.

A few seconds later, Pidgey was ready to battle again.

"I wonder why Pokemon can only learn four moves?" questioned the lass.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Pidgey, use Gust!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey was starting to wonder if she was going to run out of PP for that particular technique since her owner was making her use it so much.

Nonetheless, it was as effective as ever, since Oddish was a Grass-type.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the plant Pokemon as it was struck.

"You need to switch out now!" ordered the lass as she sent the plant Pokemon back into her Pokeball.

As before, she sent out her Pidgey...but in the process, she gave Lucy's Pidgey an opportunity to attack the fellow tiny bird Pokemon.

"I take it you know what I want you do by now?" questioned Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey nodded, and began to blow the opposing Pidgey away.

"Use Tackle!" ordered the lass.

"Use Quick Attack!" demanded Lucy.

Of course, Lucy's Pidgey got to go first, much to the lass's disappointment.

"I take it you made it forget how to use Tackle?" she inquired.

Lucy nodded.

"What was that move you learned again?" inquired the well-off Pokemon trainer.

"I think it's called Whirlwind." answered the lass.

"OK...use Whirlwind!" ordered Lucy.

The bird Pokemon did so, once again blowing away the enemy Pidgey and replacing with a different Pokemon.

"Bellsprout?" inquired the grass Pokemon as she was sent out.

Lucy gave her new opponent a scan.

"Bellsprout, the Flower Pokemon. It has a tendency to trap and eat bugs." explained the Pokedex.

"I better keep my Butterfree away from it..." thought the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"You're using another grass-type Pokemon?"

"Unfortunately, none of us really have a well-balanced team..." answered the lass.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Lucy.

"Use Vine Whip!" ordered the lass.

The lass's Bellsprout did so, whipping Pidgey...but unfortunately for Bellsprout it wasn't very effective.

Pidgey instinctively used Gust on the grass Pokemon to make her faint.

The opposing Pokemon trainer promptly sighed as she recalled her fainted Pokemon.

"We can still do this, Pidgey!" exclaimed the lass as she sent out her Pidgey.

"Use Quick Attack!" ordered Lucy.

Pidgey did so...and the opposing Pidgey fainted.

The lass sighed, realizing that her only opponent left was now her Oddish...which of course was weak against Flying-types.

"Go, Oddish! You can still do this...I think." answered the lass as she sent out her plant pokemon.

"Oddish..." murmured the grass Pokemon as she was sent out. Personally, she wasn't so sure about that.

Her question was answered when Pidgey fired yet another gust and she fainted.

"Darn it! You beat me too...at least I did my best...and I have no regrets." noted the lass.

"What about that time you stuck your hand in your Bellsprout's mouth?" inquired the youngster.

The lass sweatdropped.

"Are you number three?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I am." answered the youngster.

"Let's go, then." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, she noticed that her Pidgey seemed to be rather tired.

"Oh dear...I guess these battles have been wearing you down, huh?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgey nodded.

"Alright then, back into the Pokeball you go." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Pidgey..." murmured the content Pidgey in relief as she was sent back inside.

"Take a good rest." nodded Lucy.

"What Pokemon are you going to use to fight me, then?" asked the youngster.

"Well, you'll find out after I send out my Abra." answered the female Pokemon trainer as she threw a Pokeball.

"Abra!" exclaimed the psi Pokemon, looking forward to getting more free experience...though admittedly he didn't like making his comrades fight in his place.

"Go, Sandshrew!" exclaimed the young Pokemon trainer.

"Sandshrew!" bellowed the ground Pokemon as he was sent out of his Pokeball.

"Shame I still don't have a Water-type..." murmured Lucy as she recalled her Abra.

"Go Butterfree!"

Sure enough, Lucy tossed another Pokeball...this time of course, it was her Butterfree.

"Butterfree!" yelled the butterfly Pokemon.

"Sandshrew, use Sand-Attack!" ordered the youngster.

Sandshrew did so, kicking sand into Butterfree's eyes.

"You OK there, Butterfree?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded, though she was having a bit harder time seeing.

"Good, use Confusion!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

The butterfly Pokemon did so, causing the youngster's Sandshrew to get confused.

"Uh-oh..." thought the youngster.

"Sandshrew, use Scratch!"

Sandshrew did so, but ended up scratching himself instead.

"Maybe I should switch my Pokemon out." noted the Pokemon trainer.

"Try using Confusion again!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, hitting Sandshrew once again.

"Use Scratch! And this time try not to hit yourself..." answered the youngster.

This time, the youngster's Sandshrew did not strike himself, and he hit Butterfree instead.

"Alright then...use Confusion again!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, striking the youngster's Sandshrew with another psychic attack. This time, Sandshrew went down.

"Darn it! Well, now to send out my Ekans." said the youngster as he recalled his fainted Pokemon and pulled out another Pokeball.

"Go, Ekans!" exclaimed the Pokemon Trainer.

"Use Confusion!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, but this time she missed. Apparently the sand that Sandshrew had kicked in her eyes earlier had finally taken effect.

"Darn it." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Alright! Ekans, use Wrap!" exclaimed the youngster.

Ekans did so, wrapping himself around the opposing Butterfree.

However, the youngster's plan had a flaw...since the opposing snake Pokemon was wrapped around his enemy, he wasn't exactly in a position to dodge attacks.

"Try using Confusion again...your opponent should have a hard time dodging now." answered Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded, and this time was Ekans was hit...and this time it was a critical...and wouldn't you know it, the youngster's Ekans got one-shotted.

"You're cutting through us like butter!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better...your comrades wore my Pidgey down...and I think my Butterfree's feeling a little tired too." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree nodded in agreement.

"Well, I did my best, and I have no regrets!" exclaimed the youngster.

"What about the time you touched a Charmander's tail flame?" questioned a nearby lass.

"That was years ago!" bellowed the Pokemon trainer.

"Well, two to go." noted Lucy.

The second lass on the bridge nodded.

"I choose you, Nidoran!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, a Nidoran came out of the Pokeball...this particular one was male.

"Go, Abra!" bellowed Lucy as she hurled Abra's Pokeball.

She then went to recall her Pokemon a few seconds later...

...but for some strange reason, Abra refused to be returned to her this time.

"Er, why are you staying on the battlefield?" questioned Lucy.

As it turned out, Abra wanted to start fighting his own battles for a change...and he was starting to feel much stronger.

"Abra..." murmured the psi Pokemon.

Suddenly, he began to evolve.

"I guess my strategy worked." said Lucy.

Sure enough...Abra had evolved...into a Kadabra.

"Do you have an offensive technique now?" questioned the female Pokemon Trainer.

Lucy's Kadabra nodded...and struck the opposing Nidoran with a Confusion.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the masculine Pokemon. As it turned out, poison types weren't too fond of psychics.

"Ah good...now you can use Confusion just like your Butterfree..." noted Lucy as she gave her new Pokemon a scan.

"Kadabra, the Psi Pokemon. Its brain cells all work in unison to create alpha waves." informed Lucy's Pokedex.

Oddly enough, Kadabra was not nearly as sleepy as his preevolution was. In fact, he was wide awake.

Also for some strange reason, he now had a spoon.

"Where did you get that?" questioned Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra shrugged. He wasn't quite sure of that either...even though he was technically psychic.

"Your Pokemon may have evolved, but I'll still be able to beat you! Use Double Kick!" ordered the lass.

The lass's Nidoran did so...but unfortunately since he was dealing with a psychic type, this didn't do too much.

"Why didn't you use a Poison-type attack?" questioned Lucy.

The lass promptly sighed. She needed to rework her strategy.

"Use Confusion again, I guess." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

Kadabra nodded, and hit the lass's Nidoran with another Confusion. This time, he ended up being confused.

"Fight it!" exclaimed the lass.

Unfortunately, the lass's Nidoran did not, and he knocked himself out.

The lass sighed as she returned her Pokemon to his Pokeball.

"Go, Nidoran!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Didn't you already send out a Nidoran?" questioned Lucy.

"Well, this one's a girl!" answered the lass as she tossed a second Pokeball.

"Oh." realized the female Pokemon trainer.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the feminine Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"I suppose we should try using Confusion again." explained Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra nodded as he hit the female Nidoran with another Confusion.

"Use Poison Sting!" ordered the lass.

The lass's Nidoran did so, stinging Kadabra...and making him poisoned.

"Oh man..." thought Lucy.

"Kadabra..." murmured Lucy's Kadabra, who all of a sudden wasn't feeling too well.

"Use Confusion before the poison spreads!" ordered Lucy.

Once again, the psi Pokemon used Confusion to make the opponent faint...and that was the lass's last Pokemon this time.

Lucy happily recalled her Pokemon back to his Pokeball.

"There's only one of us left now." answered the lass.

"Good to know." nodded Lucy.

"I did my best, and I have no regrets." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"What about the time you spilled fruit punch on your dress?" inquired a nearby camper.

"Why did I have to be so clumsy?!" exclaimed the lass.

"So, you're the last Pokemon trainer I have to beat?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...though to be honest, I'm not actually the one that has the Nugget...that guy standing a few feet from me has it." answered the camper.

"Oh...he'll give me the nugget if I defeat you then, right?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, he will." nodded the camper. "To be honest, I think you'll probably be able to win by now...you did so well against my buddies."

"Yes, I did..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Also, I only have one Pokemon unfortunately...I really need to catch more of them." explained the camper.

"Is he your starter?" questioned Lucy.

"Yes, he is. Go, Mankey!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer as he sent out his monkey Pokemon.

"Mankey!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

"Go, Kadabra!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psi Pokemon. It was nice to actually get to participate in battles for a change...he was starting to get worried that his female Pokemon trainer would find him useless.

Then again, she never really did find a Pokemon to be useless, considering the fact that she caught him when he was still an Abra.

"Congratulations on your Pokemon evolving...though admittedly this puts me at a disadvantage." cheered the camper.

"Is your Mankey capable of evolving?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yes...although I don't think he's ready for that yet." answered the camper.

"Oh...that's kind of sad..." sympathized Lucy.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be able to evolve him eventually. But for now...Mankey, use Karate Chop!" ordered the male Pokemon trainer.

The camper's Mankey did so, chopping into Kadabra...which unfortunately for him wasn't ver effective.

"Mankey..." thought the pig monkey Pokemon sadly.

"Oh dear...fighting types don't do so well against psychic types, do they?" inquired Lucy.

"Nope, they don't." nodded the camper.

"Use Confusion!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Kadabra did so, which was super effective.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon, who felt that his brain had been french-fried.

"Mankey, use Scratch!" commanded the camper.

Mankey did so, scratching into Lucy's Kadabra.

Suddenly, Kadabra twisted his spoon in front of Mankey, causing him to lose accuracy.

"Mankey..." murmured the fighting Pokemon, who was feeling rather bad.

"Use Scratch again!" exclaimed the camper.

Mankey did so, but he missed.

"Give him another Confusion!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra did so...and Mankey fainted.

"Mankey..." murmured the fainted monkey Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Lucy, her Kadabra fainted also due to the poison he had received earlier.

"Kadabra..." murmured the barely conscious psychic Pokemon.

"Darn it! Oh well..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Congratulations, you've won!" exclaimed the camper as he recalled his starter.

"So I get my Nugget now?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes...I did my best and I have no regrets...except for the time I made my Mankey angry." answered the trainer.

Sure enough, Jake was there to applaud her for defeating all five Pokemon trainers.

"Congratulations, Lucy!" cheered the Team Rocket Grunt. Hopefully now she would be able to defeat Misty after the fiasco that had happened earlier.

Sure enough, the man standing at the end of the bridge was there to congratulate her as well.

"Good job defeating all five Pokemon trainers! Here is your Nugget!" he exclaimed.

Lucy happily accepted her prize...though since she was already rich she wondered if she could give it to Jake.

"By the way, how would you like to join Team Rocket?" inquired the man.

"What?" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake promptly sweatdropped.

"You're the most powerful trainer we've seen in a quite a while! We'd be honored if you'd join us!" exclaimed the disguised Team Rocket Grunt.

"I would never join Team Rocket! They're a bunch of criminals!" bellowed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy in agreement.

"Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please!" begged the Team Rocket Grunt.

"No." answered Lucy.

"Can I at least challenge you to a Pokemon battle?" inquired the grunt.

"Fine..." nodded the wealthy girl.

"You first." spoke the evil Pokemon trainer.

Lucy decided to send out her Pidgey.

"Pidgey!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Using a bird Pokemon? Big mistake! Go Ekans!" exclaimed the criminal.

"Ekans!" screeched the snake Pokemon.

"This doesn't look good...maybe I should recall it o-

Lucy was then interrupted when the Team Rocket Grunt ordered his Ekans to wrap the opposing Pidgey.

"Gotcha! Now there's no escape for your Pokemon! She's doomed!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"You are a sad, strange little man." answered Jake.

"What are you talking about?" questioned the Pokemon criminal obliviously.

"What am I going to do?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy began to scratch her head. How was Lucy's Pidgey going to get out of this?

"Pidgey!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Hahahahahaha!" laughed the evil Pokemon trainer.

However, as it turns out, Pidgey wasn't going down without a fight. Suddenly, she began to glow.

"Huh?" questioned Lucy.

"Hmm?" asked the Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, Pidgey evolved into Pidgeotto.

"Looks like my bird Pokemon's growing up." thought Lucy.

With her new-found strength, she was able to break free from the snake Pokemon's grasp.

"Ekans!" bellowed the poison Pokemon in shock.

Jake decided to give Lucy's new Pidgeotto a scan.

"Pidgeotto, the Bird Pokemon. It is very territorial, and will fiercely peck at any intruder." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"Guess it isn't a tiny bird anymore." noted Jake.

"Use Quick Attack!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so, pummeling into the opposing Ekans...knocking him out in one hit.

"How can this be happening?!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"She sure has gotten strong, hasn't she?" thought Lucy.

The Team Rocket Grunt recalled his snake Pokemon and sent out his Zubat. Lucy responded by recalling her Pidgeotto.

"I guess I should give you some time to shine, Clefairy...to be honest, I don't think I actually used you during the Nugget Bridge challenge." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy." nodded the Fairy Pokemon. It was nice to actually get to participate in a Pokemon battle for a change. Going without one for too long typically made Pokemon feel disappointed.

"Zubat, use Supersonic!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Zubat did so, making Clefairy feel confused.

"Not again...use Metronome." ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...but unfortunately she ended up using Splash again.

"Darn it." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Your Clefairy is pathetic! I'm starting to wonder if I should even give it to my boss. Use Bite!" questioned the Team Rocket Grunt.

The Team Rocket Grunt's Zubat did so, biting into the enemy Clefairy.

"Use Metronome again...and try not to use Splash this time." commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and this time, she did a tad bit better. She started chucking stones at the enemy Zubat.

"Zubat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon. Apparently, he didn't enjoy that too much. Of course, he was a flying type.

"That's a bit better...are you developing resistance to confusion now?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy shrugged. She supposed she could be...which was rather nice since being confused interfered with her concentration on her Metronome technique.

Suddenly, she snapped out of confusion.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy in celebration.

"Use Pound!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so, pummeling into the enemy Zubat and sending him down for the count.

"Aaugh! Well, I definitely think you should join Team Rocket now." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I'm still not going to." answered Lucy.

Jake personally wondered if he should quit working for Team Rocket after seeing how crazy one of his comrades was. Of course, he had already met Jessie and James...and of course their talking Meowth.

"But with your help, we can take over the world! Please reconsider!" demanded the Pokemon criminal.

"What's this about joining Team Rocket?!" exclaimed a nearby voice.

The Team Rocket Grunt looked around, and his face suddenly turned white. It was Officer Jenny.

"Um, this isn't what it looks like!" exclaimed the Pokemon criminal.

Officer Jenny promptly stuck handcuffs on the criminal's wrists.

"Off to prison you go." answered the police officer.

"Aw, man! I was sure I would get someone to join Team Rocket eventually." thought the Pokemon criminal.

"Keep dreaming, buddy." replied Officer Jenny as she took the Team Rocket Grunt away.

The five nearby Pokemon trainers looked rather confused.

"Who would have thought that he was a Team Rocket Grunt this whole time?" questioned the youngster.

"That explains why he kept mumbling about world domination." answered the camper.

"I want my mommy." murmured one of the two lasses.

"I want my bug Pokemon!" exclaimed the bug catcher.

"I want to skedaddle!" bellowed the other lass.

"Well, back to Cerulean Gym I go." spoke Lucy as she went to Cerulean City.

"Should I cheer you on?" questioned Jake.

"I think you should try catching more Pokemon for what's up ahead, but thank you." answered Lucy.

"Alright then." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt as he went to do so.

_Elsewhere on Route 24..._

"So, you learned how to swim, huh? Guess you're not quite so wimpy anymore." answered Chris.

"Thanks...I think." nodded Ned.

"Can you guys help me with something?" inquired a nearby youngster.

"What's the problem?" asked Ned.

"It's my Charmander! He's been lying on this rock, and he won't go anywhere!" exclaimed the unfortunate Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, the youngster's starter Pokemon was lying on a rock...and he didn't seem interested to listening to him.

"Why can't you just recall him into his Pokeball, you little baby?" inquired Chris.

"I'm not a baby! My name is Jerry...and he keeps batting it back to me!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Why is he not listening to you anyway?" questioned Ned.

_Jerry was eagerly enjoying his swim in the nearby lake. However, his Charmander wasn't interested in joining him._

_"C'mon! The water's great!" he exclaimed._

_"Charmander..." murmured the salamander Pokemon. He got the feeling that if he tried going for a swim, his tail would probably go out...and no Charmander or their evolutions wanted that._

_"Fine then! You're going in whether you like it or not!" bellowed Jerry, shoving his starter Pokemon into the water._

_"Charmander!" bellowed the unfortunate fire Pokemon as he fell into the lake._

_Not too long later, he decided to battle a nearby hiker._

_"Go, Onix!" exclaimed the hiker as he sent out his Onix._

_"This Rock Pokemon's no match for us! Go, Charmander!" bellowed Jerry as he sent out his Fire Pokemon._

_Jerry's Charmander cowered in fear. There was no way he was going to be able to win this fight._

_"Charmander, don't be such a coward! Fight for me!" demanded the Pokemon trainer, shoving Charmander towards the Onix._

_"Charmander!" screamed the starter Pokemon._

_And just a few minutes later, he sent him out again against a fisherman._

_"Go, Gyarados!" he bellowed._

_"Gyarados!" exclaimed the giant water Pokemon._

_"Your fishes are going to lose! Charmander, let's get them!" bellowed Jerry as he sent out his Charmander._

_"Charmander..." murmured the starter Pokemon. Why was his trainer treating him like this?_

_"Don't be a baby! Fight like a man!" demanded the Pokemon trainer as he once again pushed Charmander._

"He's just a tremendous jerk that hates listening, I guess." answered Jerry.

"Charmander..." murmured Jerry's Charmander, feeling that his trainer was being a hypocrite.

"Maybe he wants a new Pokemon trainer?" questioned Chris.

"Why would he want that? We're the best friends in the whole world!" exclaimed the Pokemon trainer.

"Charmander..." murmured the fire Pokemon. Somehow, he got the feeling that wasn't true.

"Let's prove it then...how would you like to be my Pokemon buddy? I'll let you fight Pokemon that you have a type advantage against...like those grass Pokemon for instance." spoke Chris.

Charmander's tail promptly flared up. He looked forward to the sound of that...and nobody could be worse than his old Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, he tapped the Pokeball Jerry had kept him in, causing him to be enveloped in a blue light.

"What! No! Don't release yourself!" exclaimed the Pokemon trainer.

Jerry's former Charmander ignored him as he went into Chris's Pokeball.

Ned gave Chris's new Charmander a scan.

"Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. It loves hot places! But if its tail goes out, it will kick the bucket!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"I can't believe it...my starter Pokemon has left me...oh well, I'll just find another Pokemon!" exclaimed Jerry as he ran away.

"Sheesh...he didn't care about his starter Pokemon after all, did he?" questioned Ned.

"I guess not." answered Chris as she sent out her new Charmander. "Let's go barbecue some Oddish and Bellsprout, shall we?"

"Charmander!" cheered Chris's new Charmander in agreement.

"Just try not to set too many things on fire." warned Ned.

Chris's Charmander nodded in agreement. Wouldn't want the Squirtle Squad to have to be involved.

And so Chris set forth to train her new Pokemon.

_Well, this has been the longest chapter so far...I hope you enjoyed it...oh, and don't treat your Pokemon like Jerry did...he's probably friends with Damien._

_In the next chapter, Lucy will be rematching Misty...and two more Pokemon will be captured._

_See you later!_


	18. Chapter 18: Pay Your Bills

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy's going to rematch Misty...will she be more successful this time? And is anyone else going to catch more Pokemon?_

**Chapter 18: Pay Your Bills**

Lucy once again stepped into Misty's Gym, ready to battle Misty once again. Surely she'd do better than she did before this time, right? She had evolved two of her Pokemon since her last encounter.

"So, are you ready to battle me again? Hopefully you're more experienced now...I wouldn't want you to have to lose twice in a row..." noted the water-type specialist.

"Yes, I am. I think I can win my badge this time." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then...I suppose you're ready." nodded Misty. "Go, Staryu!"

Sure enough, Misty's Staryu came out of its Pokeball once more.

This time, Lucy decided to send out a different Pokemon.

"Go, Kadabra!" exclaimed the wealthy Pokemon trainer as she tossed a Pokeball.

Sure enough, Lucy's Kadabra was sent out from his Pokeball.

Suffice to say, Kadabra was rather happy that he would be able to participate in a Gym Battle, especially considering that he wasn't able to battle at all as an Abra.

"Kadabra!" exclaimed the Psi Pokemon.

"Staryu, use Water Pulse!" ordered Misty.

Staryu did so, pelting Lucy's Kadabra with water...but since he was a psychic type, he was fairly resistant to confusion.

Speaking of which, that was the move he was going to use next.

"Use Confusion!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra did so, hitting Misty's Staryu with a psychic attack.

"Staryu..." murmured the star shape Pokemon. That psi Pokemon packed a whallop.

"Use Recover!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu did so to help it recover from the injuries it had received earlier.

Unfortunately, this technique would quickly be undone by another round of psychic energy.

"Keep using Confusion!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra hit Staryu once more, and this time it was a critical hit.

"Staryu!" bellowed the starfish Pokemon.

And to make matters worse, the water Pokemon was now confused.

"Use Tackle!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Staryu tried to do so...but ended up striking itself instead...and it fainted.

"Well, that was rather impressive...but let's see if you can defeat my Starmie this time!" exclaimed Misty as she sent out another Pokeball.

Of course, it was her Starmie.

"Starmie!" exclaimed Misty's Starmie.

"Be careful...it's tough." warned Lucy, noting how her Starmie had defeated her Clefairy before.

Lucy's Kadabra nodded. A Gym Leader's Pokemon should never be underestimated.

"Use Water Pulse!" exclaimed Misty.

"Starmie!" bellowed the mysterious Pokemon as it struck Kadabra with a water pulse.

"Kadabra!" exclaim the psychic Pokemon as he was hit once again.

"Use Confusion again!" demanded Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra once again used a psychic attack...but since his foe was a psychic type itself, this didn't do Starmie too much.

"I guess having a secondary type has its perks." noted Misty.

"Yes, it does." nodded Lucy, aware that flying types typically were dualtyped.

"I suppose I won't be able to do too much damage, unfortunately...use Kinesis instead!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra nodded, and twisted his spoon to make Misty's Starmie lose accuracy.

"Starmie, use Rapid Spin!" commanded Misty.

Misty's Starmie did so, spinning into Kadabra at a rapid speed.

"Starmie!" bellowed the star shape Pokemon.

"Kadabra!" exclaimed the psi Pokemon as he was struck.

When it was all over...Lucy's Kadabra had fainted.

"Kadabra..." murmured Lucy's Kadabra, who was now lying down on the floor with his spoon out of his hand.

"I guess he couldn't take too many hits..." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she recalled her Kadabra.

"Are you going to use your Clefairy again?" questioned Misty.

"Of course I am...she's my starter." answered Lucy.

"Alright then." nodded the water-type Pokemon trainer.

Hopefully, Lucy's Clefairy would be able to defeat Misty this time. It would be rather disappointing if she lost twice in a row.

"Go, Clefairy!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

As usual, Lucy's Clefairy detached herself from Lucy's back.

"Use Water Pulse!" ordered Misty.

Misty's Starmie did so, pummeling into Clefairy...and once again making her confused.

"Not again! Use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

This time, Lucy's Clefairy thankfully did not use Splash...she instead used Surf.

Immediately, Misty's Starmie ended up being sent flying quite a few feet by the approaching tidal wave. Thankfully, it was a water-type, though the attack hurt nonetheless.

"Use Rapid Spin!" exclaimed Misty.

Misty's Starmie immediately spun its way towards Clefairy, knocking her in the water.

However, in this process, this returned her to her senses.

"Uh-oh..." thought Misty.

"Keep using Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and this time she hit the jackpot.

Immediately, Misty's Starmie was struck by an immense amount of lightning that was only made worse by the fact that it was a water type and the simple fact that it was swimming in a pool.

Miraculously, Lucy's Clefairy was unaffected...though the same could not be said for Starmie, whose core was now flickering.

"Lucy Hisakawa has won the battle!" exclaimed the referee.

"Funny, you didn't really talk much during my first battle..." noted Lucy.

"I, er, had a sore throat." he explained.

Lucy shrugged.

"Great job! You defeated me this time!" cheered Misty as she recalled her Pokemon.

Misty gave Lucy her badge. She promptly smiled, happy to have won this time.

"My Pokemon sure are getting stronger..." noted Lucy.

"They'll keep on doing that as you keep battling Pokemon trainers...by the way, if you get the chance...you should try going on a cruise ship. That's a personal hobby of mine." answered Misty.

"You mean like the S.S. Anne? My parents took me there a few times...said it was a pretty luxurious cruise ship." noted Lucy.

"So, you're well off then?" questioned the water-type Gym Leader.

Lucy nodded.

"Good for you then...though I'll be giving you this anyway since you defeated me." spoke Misty as she handed Lucy some Pokedollars.

"Thank you!" cheered the wealthy Pokemon trainer, happy to receive a reward for defeating her second Gym Leader.

Lucy happily exited the gym, ready to tell Jake the good news.

_Speaking of which, let's check on him._

Jake was getting a bit bored waiting for Lucy to return, so he decided that he should try Pokemon training.

He noticed that there were many wild Pokemon nearby...he in fact recalled that Pokemon trainers typically used them to train their Pokemon when there weren't any Pokemon trainers nearby.

And as it turns out, there didn't seem to be many Pokemon trainers nearby. Apparently, they had been freaked out about a member of Team Rocket being in charge of the Nugget Bridge...and of course, the robbery that had occurred a few minutes ago.

"Well, let's fight some wild Pokemon then." answered Jake, sending out his Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon as he oozed out of his Pokeball.

"Say, I wonder what kind of Pokemon live in this area anyway...I know that there are a few Abra...but is there anything else?" questioned Jake.

Suddenly, a wild Oddish hopped out of the bushes, much to his brief surprise.

"Well, would you look at that? Funny, I can't help but the shake the feeling that Lucy would probably want a Pokemon like this..." the Team Rocket Grunt thought.

But as it turns out, Lucy would not be the Pokemon Trainer that would catch it.

For some strange reason, it walked up to Grimer and started sniffing him...and for some reason, Oddish actually enjoyed the smell.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the plant Pokemon.

"That's rather odd...then again, they are called Oddish." thought Jake.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer. Why did Oddish like him so much? Most plant Pokemon didn't like his presence...

He recalled that Oddish evolved into Gloom...which had a foul-smelling aroma that they could use to defend themselves...maybe that had something to do with it?

Or maybe it was because it was a poison-type Pokemon itself, just like his Grimer...

However, Jake wondered most of all why there were so many questions filling his head all of a sudden. Was he getting too curious?

Suddenly, the wild Oddish brought him back to his senses.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the plant Pokemon, waving his vines in front of him.

"Huh? Do you want a Pokemon battle?" questioned Jake.

"Oddish!" cheered the weed Pokemon.

"Alright then...Grimer, use Sludge!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

Grimer did so, hurling purple goo at the Oddish. Jake noted that he would not be able to poison it since it was part poison-type, but it seemed to do damage nonetheless.

Oddish retaliated by shooting acid at Grimer...but this didn't do much good. It was a poison type after all.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer. Why was it attacking it with poison? Surely it should be trying a psychic or a ground attack...

"Pound into it now, I guess." answered Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, pummeling into Oddish.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the wild Grass Pokemon.

"Huh? You want me to catch you now? Funny, I was thinking that Lucy would be interested in having a Pokemon like you..." said Jake.

Oddish dropped its head sadly.

"But I suppose if you really want to." answered the Team Rocket Grunt as he threw a Pokeball.

The wild Oddish smiled as it was caught.

"It couldn't get enough of your aroma, I guess." thought Jake. "Then again, I'm not sure if Oddish even have noses..."

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer curiously.

Giving the Oddish a scan, Jake discovered that it was a female.

"Oh, I have a girl Pokemon now...feels kind of weird." murmured the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Grimer simply shrugged.

Suddenly, he began to smell something strange.

"Is that smoke?" questioned Jake.

"Grimer?" inquired Jake's Grimer.

Apparently, there was a fire nearby.

"Oh dear...I don't think Oddish is going to like this..." thought Jake.

"Charmander, use Ember!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Charmander nodded as he shot a small stream of fire out of his mouth.

"Oh, would you look at that...it looks like someone's training their Pokemon...why do I get the feeling that it's someone I know?" murmured the Team Rocket Grunt.

As it turns out, Chris was trying to get her new fire Pokemon to become stronger. So far, she seemed to be succeeding.

"Charmander!" exclaimed Chris's Charmander. He was glad that he would actually get to fight Pokemon that he had a type advantage for a change.

Why did his owner send him out against Rock and Water types anyway? Did he even know about type advantages and disadvantages? Or did he just like being cruel to him?

Then again, he did make him swim in a pool...he thought for a moment that his tail would go out...though thankfully he was able to climb out of the water.

He personally didn't seem too unhappy that his starter Pokemon was gone...he supposed that he really was in better hands. Though admittedly his new trainer was aggressive about training her Pokemon, at least she didn't force him to go for a swim or face opponents that he couldn't possibly win against.

"Have you leveled up yet?" inquired Chris.

Charmander nodded, though he still had some way to go before he became a Charmeleon.

"So, how's your Pokemon training going?" inquired Ned.

"Pretty good...these Grass Pokemon are no match for fire-types to be honest..." answered Chris.

"Charmander!" cheered Chris's Charmander, satisfied at his work.

"Yeah...I heard that Ice types aren't much of a match for them either...though there don't see to be many Ice types inhabitating Kanto." noted Ned.

He noticed that there were now several injured Grass Pokemon nearby...and wondered if he should try tossing a Pokeball at one of them.

He eventually settled on capturing a nearby Bellsprout, since Chris's Charmander had burned it and therefore made it that much easier to catch.

"Pokeball, Go!" exclaimed Ned as he tossed the Pokeball.

Sure enough, it worked surprisingly well...and Bellsprout was caught.

"Well, that was rather easy." thought the nerdy Pokemon trainer. If only all Pokemon captures could be like that. Then again, that wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

However, the Bellsprout released itself from its Pokeball a few minutes later.

"Huh?" questioned Ned.

Immediately, it clasped its mouth around Ned's hand.

"Get off!" demanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer, who was now shaking his hand.

Apparently, this one was a girl...and for some strange reason, it seemed rather attached to him.

"Why won't you let go of me? That's my writing hand, you know!" inquired Ned.

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon, who unfortunately wasn't a very good listener.

"What's this? You seem to have made a friend." exclaimed Chris.

"Yeah, I managed to catch a Bellsprout...but for some strange reason, she just won't leave me alone." answered Ned.

"Just like you never leave girls alone?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Er, yeah...heh heh." nodded the unmasculine Pokemon trainer, who was now starting to feel irony.

Ned recalled his Bellsprout back into her Pokeball with his free hand.

"Well, let's get going to Vermillion City...I think that I've trained my Charmander long enough now." answered Chris.

"How strong is he?" questioned the nerd.

"I think I'll be able to evolve him into a Charmeleon soon...thank you very much. Now are we heading to Vermillion City or not?" exclaimed the tomboy.

Suddenly, Ned noticed that there was a house nearby...this was where the creator of the Pokemon Storage System lived...he was known simply by the name of Bill.

Immediately, he became very excited. In fact, he started jumping up and down.

"Can we visit Bill? Please! I've been wanting to get his autograph for a long time!" exclaimed the nerd.

"Who the heck is Bill?" questioned Chris. Was he the guy that showed up whenever you owed somebody money or something?

"You haven't heard of him? He allows us to store our Pokemon in our PC so that we don't have to carry more than six at a time!" squealed Ned.

"Oh. Funny, I don't think we actually have six Pokemon yet...are you his biggest fanboy or something?" questioned the tomboy.

"I'm somewhere up there." answered the nerd, though he wasn't really sure of that question himself.

"Fine, I suppose we can pay him a visit...but it had better be quick. We don't have all day, you know." nodded Chris.

"Yes!" cheered Ned, happy to finally get to meet the Pokemon researcher.

Immediately, Chris and Ned both entered the house. However, to their surprise, Bill didn't seem to be there.

"That's weird, where is he? I'm pretty sure that he lives here..." questioned the nerd.

"Sorry, looks like you're not going to get his autograph. Let's go." answered Chris.

"Aww..." murmured Ned. Apparently it was simply too good to be true, much like the Magikarp the Magikarp Salesman had offered him.

Suddenly, they noticed that that there was a Clefairy inside his house. For some strange reason, it had a vague resemblance to Bill.

Ned began to wonder what a wild Pokemon was doing inside. Had the Clefairy invited themselves in while he was gone?

"Clefairy clef fairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon. It seemed rather happy to see them.

"Er, this wouldn't happen to be Lucy's Clefairy, now would it?" asked Ned curiously.

Chris gave the Clefairy a scan with her Pokedex.

"No it's not...this one's male...and I'm pretty sure Lucy's was a girl." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh." nodded the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy! Clefairy!" exclaimed the Fairy Pokemon.

"Hmm, that's weird. He seems to be trying to tell us something." answered Chris.

"What seems to be the problem?" inquired Ned.

He noticed that the Clefairy seemed rather unhappy...was he having a bad day? Had he crashed his spaceship?

The Clefairy immediately pointed to a series of switches. Curious, Ned noticed that there seemed to be a rather elaborate machine nearby.

Curious, he decided to give it a closer look.

"Interesting...this device seems to be a Pokemon Molecular Combiner..." questioned Ned.

"Let's just call it the PMC for short..." answered Chris.

"Fair enough." nodded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Pulling the switch like the Clefairy had asked him to do, an entrance to the device suddenly opened.

The Fairy Pokemon walked inside, and pointed to another switch.

"Huh, I wonder what that Clefairy wants with that machine...he's pretty strange for a Pokemon..." noted Ned.

"Well, he seems really different than Lucy's, I can tell you that much." agreed Chris.

Flipping the other switch that the Clefairy had told him to do, the door to the machine closed.

"I take it you want me to turn it on now?" inquired Ned.

"Clef!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon. Apparently this meant yes.

"Alright then." nodded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Turning on the machine, it began to power up...all of a sudden, the wild Clefairy was surrounded with steam.

"What's going on?" questioned Ned in astonishment.

"You're the genius, you figure that out yourself." answered Chris.

The machine began to shake tremendously. Apparently, it was using a lot of electricity.

Eventually however, the shaking subsided, and there was a ding.

The wild Clefairy emerged from the other side a few minutes later...but he wasn't a Clefairy anymore.

As soon as the steam disappeared, Ned and Chris discovered that the Clefairy they had helped earlier was now a human...the Pokemon researcher Bill to be precise.

"Thank you so much!" he exclaimed as the steam disappeared.

Ned once again screamed like a little girl.

"Er, can you explain what happened here?" questioned Chris.

"I was trying to test out my new machine to see if it worked...but unfortunately a wild Pokemon walked into it and I ended up being molecularly combined..." answered Bill.

Sure enough, a wild Clefairy walked out of the machine as well.

"Don't tamper with my machines without my permission!" bellowed Bill.

"Clefairy..." murmured the wild Clefairy in sadness. He had gotten too carried away for his own good, though admittedly being combined with Bill was a rather interesting experience.

Bill threw a Pokeball at the Clefairy, and he was caught.

"Well, hopefully I can keep a closer eye on him now." murmured Bill.

"Funny...my dad has had his share of lab accidents too. I heard that he once swapped brains with a Mankey." spoke Ned.

"He swapped brains with a what?!" exclaimed Chris.

"Yeah...you really shouldn't play with science." answered Ned.

"Someone needs to tell those mad scientists you see on TV that." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah..." agreed Ned.

"Is there anything that I can do to repay you two? I was starting to get worried that I was going to be trapped in the wrong body forever!" inquired Bill.

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me your autograph. I've been a fan of yours for years." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Yes, of course! Anything for my loyal fans!" agreed the Pokemon researcher.

Ned gave Bill a piece of paper...and he signed it using a conveniently located pen on his desk.

"Yes, yes!" squealed the nerdy Pokemon trainer, happy to have received Bill's autograph at last.

Chris raised an eyebrow. Why exactly did he like Bill so much?

"Is there anything else that you would like to give us, Mr. Bill?" questioned the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Well, I suppose you can have these pair of S.S Anne cruise tickets...I was going to go on that ship myself...but I got rather busy." explained Bill.

"Are there any Pokemon trainers on that ship?" questioned Chris.

"Yes, there's a fair amount of them." answered the Pokemon researcher.

"I think I'm going to enjoy it then." nodded the female Pokemon trainer, looking forward to some more Pokemon battles.

"Me too!" exclaimed Ned, looking forward to going on a vacation.

"Just be careful not to do anything that would sink the ship. A lot of money went into it." warned Bill.

Chris and Ned nodded as they both left Bill's home.

"Well, it looks like we're going on a vacation!" exclaimed Ned.

"You're going to flirt with every single girl on the ship, aren't you?" inquired Chris.

"What makes you think I'll do that?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"No reason." answered the female Pokemon trainer sarcastically.

_Meanwhile..._

Much to Jake's pleasure, Lucy joined up with him once again...and this time, she had the Cerulean Badge.

"Great job! You won this time!" cheered Jake.

"Yeah...we've still got a long way to go though before we can enter the Indigo Plateau Conference." noted Lucy.

Jake nodded his head in agreement.

"Of course, I also won that nugget bridge challenge...though to be honest, I'm not sure what to do with it...I'm already rich..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Funny...my father and I always seem to have financial difficulties..." explained Jake.

"What?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah, for some strange reason, he can never hold a job for long...he always gets fired." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"That's horrible." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...I'm starting to get worried about him to be honest...he always seems so depressed." noted Jake.

All of a sudden, Lucy knew what to do with her Nugget.

"You deserve this more than I do then." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy handed Jake the Nugget.

"What? But you're the one who won it!" exclaimed Jake.

"Well, you're the one whose suffering financially, not me...besides, it was a Team Rocket Grunt that gave it to me..." answered the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Er, yeah..." nodded the twelve-year old, once again feeling a sense of irony.

He then remembered that he had caught a Pokemon while she was away.

"By the way, I managed to catch another Pokemon..." explained Jake.

"Really? What Pokemon was it?" inquired Lucy.

"It was an Oddish..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Really?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...want to see it?" asked Jake.

Lucy nodded.

Jake sent out his Oddish from her Pokeball.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"Pleased to meet you." cheered Lucy.

Jake's Oddish began to jump up and down, happy to have a new friend.

"Alright then, back into the Pokeball you go." answered Jake, recalling his new Oddish.

Oddish smiled as she was returned to her Pokeball.

"You know, it's funny...for some reason, she was attracted to my Grimer's smell, so I didn't have a hard time catching her." explained Jake.

"Your Oddish is a girl?" questioned Lucy. Up until now, all Jake's Pokemon had been male.

"You caught your first male Pokemon not too long ago, didn't you?" answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, yeah." nodded the female Pokemon trainer, recalling how her Kadabra was male.

"Anyways, I take it you want to head to Vermillion City, now? That's where the next gym is." questioned Jake.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement.

"Alright then, let's go." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

And so the two of them set out to get their third gym badge.

_At Team Rocket HQ..._

Giovanni once again sat in his office, ready to hear the latest report from his followers.

"So, Officer Jenny crossed paths with you two, didn't they, Baby and Cassidy?" questioned Giovanni.

"I'm not a baby!" exclaimed Butch.

"Sure you're not. Sheesh, it seems like she's been really cracking down on us lately." explained the head of Team Rocket.

"I know..." nodded Cassidy.

"Anyways...did you at least manage to get the TM?" inquired Giovanni.

Butch and Cassidy nodded, presenting the CD that contained the technical machine for their master.

"Very good. Hand it over to me, will you? I'm sure our scientists will be interested in it." asked Team Rocket's big cheese.

The two Team Rocket members nodded once again as they handed Giovanni the TM.

"Well, this is a rather decent consolation prize...but I take it you were unsuccessful in getting the Pokemon of those two Pokemon trainers Jessie and James told me about?" inquired Giovanni.

Butch and Cassidy both dropped their heads in shame.

"Well, if I know anything about you two...I know that you're persistent. Try to find a place where Officer Jenny won't notice you easily...that way you'll be able to capture their Pokemon without interference." ordered Giovanni.

"Yes, boss!" exclaimed Butch.

"And while you're at it, Bobby, you should really try wearing a nametag." explained the Team Rocket Boss.

"I agree...that will make it a lot easier for people to remember your name." agreed Cassidy.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" exclaimed the surprisingly competent Team Rocket Grunt.

"Mm-hmm...let me know if you need anything." explained the Team Rocket Boss.

Butch and Cassidy nodded as they once again left Giovanni's office.

"Personally I wonder if I should try sending them after that missing Team Rocket Grunt and that little girl...but I already told my men that wouldn't be necessary..." noted the head of Team Rocket.

Nonetheless, he hoped that he would be able to gain extra cash in the event that his plan to extort money from the Hisakawa family didn't work out.

Suddenly, his pet Persian walked into his office.

"What is it, boy?" inquired Giovanni.

"Persian..." murmured the cat Pokemon.

"What?! Jessie and James forgot to clean your litterbox?! Those incompetent fools! I'll teach them a lesson or two..." bellowed Giovanni.

"Persian!" cheered Giovanni's Persian. Apparently he was also looking forward to punishing Giovanni's most incompetent followers.

"Mm-hmm, and I'll be doing that right...after my coffee break." answered Giovanni.

"Persian..." murmured Giovanni's Persian sadly.

And so Giovanni went to drink from his precious coffee mug.

_As usual, Jessie and James have proved themselves to be incompetent and rather unintelligent...even though they didn't actually appear in this chapter._

_And of course, Butch and Cassidy have not given up...they didn't let a thing like Officer Jenny bother them, now did they?_

_And yes, Chris and Ned will be going on a cruise ship...as for Lucy and Jake...they'll be going on the cruise ship too...though they'll actually have to pay for their tickets. Tough luck for them._

_So, tune in next time, will you? Adios!_


	19. Chapter 19: Paying Off A Debt

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Ned and Chris will be battling Lt. Surge...but it's not going to go well for one of them...in fact, it's going to end rather badly._

_But on the bright side of things, Ned will finally be able to pay off his debt to Chris...but will she keep traveling with him after that? Let's find out together, shall we?_

_Oh, and Lucy and Jake will be getting some bikes of their own...turns out Lucy had two of them the whole time...shame that she didn't notice them earlier. Ah well. At least they can ride some bikes too now._

_Let's read the chapter now, shall we?_

**Chapter 19: Paying Off A Debt**

"Hmm, it says here that we can use this underground path to get to Vermillion City..." said Chris.

"Can we go elsewhere? Going underground kinds of makes me feel nervous..." stated Ned.

"As usual you've proven yourself to be a big baby. And no, we can't. That guard standing in front of Saffron City won't let us in." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

_"There's absolutely no way that I'm letting you through! You're a bunch of babies!" exclaimed the guard._

_"But I'm a teenager..." explained Chris._

_"Well, too bad! I'm not still letting you through!" bellowed the guard._

_Chris and Ned frowned as they decided to look for another way to get to Vermillion City._

_"Sheesh, I could really use a cup of coffee right now..." he thought._

"Fine...we'll go through the underground path...but make it quick! Being underground makes me feel nervous..." exclaimed Ned.

"Of course I will...it's not very big to be honest." answered Chris.

Sure enough, the underground path really wasn't all that big. Eventually, they were able to get to the other side.

"So, is Vermillion City a short while from here?" questioned Ned.

"Of course it is! You can see it right over there." answered Chris.

Ned looked around, and immediately sweatdropped, realizing what his partner had told him was true.

"Alright then..." spoke the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, they managed to reach Vermillion City in just a few minutes.

"Well, the Vermillion Gym shouldn't be too far from here..." said Chris.

Suddenly, Ned noticed that the headquarters for the Pokemon Fan Club was nearby.

"Can we visit the Pokemon Fan Club?" asked the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"Darn it! You're holding us up again!" answered Chris.

"Aren't we Pokemon fans too?" inquired Ned.

The unfeminine Pokemon trainer sighed.

"Fine...but we better make it quick...I want to battle the gym leader and be done with it." answered Chris.

Reluctantly, she accompanied Ned into the Pokemon fan club headquarters.

Sure enough, the Pokemon fan club president was sitting on a nearby couch, eager to tell the story of how he and the Pokemon fan club came to be.

"Hey there! How would you like to hear about my incredibly long life story?" inquired the president.

"Sure!" exclaimed the nerd.

"Oh heck no..." thought Chris.

"OK...once upon a time I was wee lad that really loved Pokemon...so I set forth on a Pokemon journey to get as many as I could find..." spoke the old man.

Already, the fan club president was beginning to bore Chris.

"Eventually, I managed to capture some rare Pokemon! I was so happy! I felt like I was the best Pokemon trainer in the world!" droned on the president.

Chris was beginning to feel sleepy.

"One day I happened to encounter Mew! None of my friends believed me though...they thought I was bluffing!" exclaimed the old man.

Chris had fallen asleep.

"Zzz..." murmured the tomboy.

"I met a couple of trainers that were interested in joining my cause...they said that we should start a fan club..." murmured the president.

Chris was now snoring.

"And that's the story of how the Pokemon fan club came to be!" bellowed the elderly man.

Chris suddenly woke up.

"Is the story over?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yes, it is! Anyways, since you listened to the whole story, I want you two to have this!" exclaimed the president.

The president gave Chris and Ned two bike vouchers.

"What the-" spoke Chris.

"You can use these to purchase bikes from the Cerulean City bike shop!" exclaimed the old man.

Ned gasped in astonishment. He now had a way to pay off Chris' debt.

"Er, are you going to stop hunting me down now?" questioned Ned.

"Maybe..." answered Chris.

"To be honest, I've actually gotten used to traveling with you." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, have you?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned nodded.

"Well then...I suppose it wouldn't hurt to travel you with a big longer..." noted Chris.

"Really?" inquired the male Pokemon trainer.

"Well yeah...I have to admit, though I initially wanted to go on my Pokemon journey solo...it's rather nice to have to someone that I can always boss around..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"What makes you think that you can boss me around?" asked Ned.

"Drop and give me twenty!" demanded Chris.

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer in agreement.

Ned began to drop and give her twenty...but unfortunately he could only get in five before collapsing on the floor.

"Really?" questioned Chris.

"I've fallen and I can't get up..." murmured Ned.

Chris reluctantly dragged Ned outside the Pokemon fan club.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, we need to get to Vermillion City through this underground path?" inquired Lucy.

"That we do. I heard that the guard at that gateway to Saffron City won't let us anyone through these days." noted Jake.

Suddenly, they noticed that there seemed to be a Pokemon nearby.

"What the-" questioned the male Pokemon trainer.

Much to their surprise, it was a Bulbasaur.

"That's weird...I thought that Bulbasaurs normally weren't in the wild in Kanto..." questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"I heard that they had a secret garden where there's a ceremony for evolving into an Ivysaur..." noted Jake.

"Did it decide to leave the garden or something?" questioned Lucy.

Suddenly, the wild Bulbasaur noticed them.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon. Apparently it was happy to see a few Pokemon trainers for a change.

Lucy gave the Bulbasaur a scan. This one was a female by the looks of it.

"Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokemon. It has a seed planted on its back at birth which grows along with the Pokemon." read Lucy's Pokedex.

Lucy decided to have her Clefairy ask what the Bulbasaur was doing out in the wild.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the wild Bulbasaur.

Apparently, this particular Bulbasaur was a traveling Pokemon that wanted to explore Kanto...unfortunately, it had hit a roadblock as of late.

_"Get out of here, you wild Pokemon! I'm not letting you through!" bellowed the guard._

_"Bulba..." murmured the wild Bulbasaur sadly as she left the building._

_"Sheesh...if only you were a water Pokemon...I am so thirsty..." murmured the angry man._

And to make matters worse, a Bulbasaur wasn't well-suited for going underground, since Bulbasaurs needed a fair amount of sunlight to keep going.

"Oh dear...that does sound like a problem..." murmured Lucy.

"Bulba..." nodded the grass Pokemon.

"I know! Why don't you come along with us! That'll help you travel, am I right?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur nodded. That did sound like a good deal...though she wanted to test out Lucy's skill first.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"You want a Pokemon battle? Um, sure..." nodded Lucy.

Lucy decided to send out her Clefairy.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, the wild Bulbasaur whipped the opposing Clefairy with some vines.

"Clefairy!" yelled the fairy Pokemon.

"Try using Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and roasted the wild Bulbasaur with a stream of fire.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the wild Bulbasaur, recalling the day she had run into a rather vicious Charmander.

And to make matters worse for Bulbasaur, she ended up getting burned.

"Bulba..." murmured the dinosaur Pokemon.

Lucy immediately threw a Pokeball.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Bulbasaur was caught.

"Well, that didn't take too long." noted Jake.

"Who would have thought that there was a wild Bulbasaur roaming Kanto?" questioned Lucy.

"I know..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt. He personally wondered where Professor Oak got so many Bulbasaurs to give to starting Pokemon trainers.

"Well, off to Vermillion City we go, then." spoke Lucy.

Jake nodded his head in agreement.

_Back to our other two heroes..._

Heading back to Cerulean City, Chris and Ned gave their bike vouchers to the bike shop owner, who was rather surprised that they had gotten their hands on them.

"Who gave you these?!" exclaimed the bike shop owner in surprise.

"The president of the fan club, why?" inquired Chris.

The bike shop owner sighed. How many times had the Pokemon fan club president handed Pokemon trainers bike vouchers? He must have had a nearly bottomless pool of funds by now.

"Fine, take your stupid bikes. See if I care." answered the bike shop owner.

Chris stuck her tongue out in front of the cashier as she and Ned each picked out their own bike.

In Chris's case, she picked out a black bike. In Ned's case, he picked out a white bike.

"Well then, let's head back to Vermillion City on our new bikes, shall we?" inquired Chris.

"Er, yeah..." nodded Ned, who was feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing.

"Don't you dare use them while you're still in this shop!" bellowed the bike shop owner.

"Right, of course..." answered Chris sarcastically, who was in fact looking forward to doing so.

And so the two of them left the shop before trying out their new bikes.

"This should make travelling a lot easier." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Mm-hmm..." nodded Ned nervously.

_Back to our other heroes..._

Lucy and Jake arrived in Vermillion City, ready to challenge the gym leader.

Curious, they decided to read the sign to see who they were up against this time.

"The Lightning American..." read Lucy.

"Looks like we're going to be dealing with an electric-type gym leader this time...good thing we both have grass-types." noted Jake.

"Uh-huh!" agreed the female Pokemon trainer.

But something else caught Lucy's attention.

"What's this? The Pokemon fan club?" inquired the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"The Pokemon fan club?" questioned Jake.

Immediately, she wanted to pay it a visit.

"Can we pay a visit? I've been a Pokemon fan for years." asked Lucy.

"Um, sure." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, Lucy and Jake paid him a visit.

"Hello there! It's good to see that there are so many fans of Pokemon...in fact, two of them just visited me today!" exclaimed the Pokemon fan club president.

"One of them wouldn't happen to be a girl that loosely resembles a boy and one of them wouldn't happen to be a boy that loosely resembles a girl, now would they?" asked Jake.

"Why yes, that would describe them perfectly!" exclaimed the president.

"I guess Chris and Ned were here first..." noted Lucy.

"I gave them some bike vouchers since they were so eager to listen to my life story! Hopefully they'll have a nice ride on their new bikes!" bellowed the old man.

Suddenly, Lucy remembered something.

"Funny, didn't my parents get me two bike vouchers?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"They did?" asked Jake.

"Yeah...they wanted me to give one to a friend." noted Lucy.

"That'd have been nice for us to know while we were at Cerulean City." answered Jake.

"Sorry, I forgot!" apologized the female Pokemon trainer.

"Let's just go get some bikes..." suggested the Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy nodded as she and Jake went to get some bikes.

Oddly enough, the bike shop owner didn't seem surprised that they had some bike vouchers.

"Just take your bikes and go...like those two kids I met earlier..." answered the shop owner.

"I'm pretty sure one of them was a teenager." answered Jake.

"Whatever!" exclaimed the cashier.

Lucy and Jake did what the bike shop owner told them to do and picked out two bikes...a pink bike for Lucy, and one blue bike for Jake.

Oddly enough, Lucy's Clefairy got the feeling that they could use one of them to get back home, though she wasn't quite sure how.

Maybe she could phone home while she was at it? Then again she wasn't even sure that her parents had phones.

She thought about what she could do to get back home as her owner and Jake both left the bike store.

"Lousy kids and their stupid vouchers..." murmured the bike shop owner as he went to deliver the vouchers to the nearest bank...which was in Pewter City.

Suffice to say, Lucy and Jake were both happy to try out their new bikes.

"Isn't bike riding fun?" asked Lucy.

"It sure is..." noted Jake. Unfortunately, his father was never able to afford a bike for him...since they costed way too much.

Suffice to say, he was rather glad that he was traveling with Lucy...though it wasn't simply because she was rich.

"Why did I even agree to participate on that mission for Giovanni anyway?" thought Jake.

_It's time for our heroes to battle Lt. Surge..._

After a brief visit to the Pokemon Fan Club and getting some rather valuable bikes, Chris and Ned decided to take on Lt. Surge.

Sure enough, he was standing in the arena waiting to take on some challengers. He had a rather smug grin on his face.

Immediately, Ned started hiding behind Chris, much to her surprise.

"Um, are you feeling okay?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"What's this? It looks like a bunch of greenhorn Pokemon trainers have decided to challenge me!" taunted Lt. Surge.

"What makes you think that we're greenhorn Pokemon trainers?" questioned Chris.

"How many badges do you have?" asked the lieutenant.

"We both have two, why?" answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Lt. Surge sweatdropped.

"Well OK...maybe you're not as bad as I thought...but you're still going to lose!" exclaimed the electric-type Gym Leader.

"You think you're tough, huh? Let's see how cocky you are after I beat you and take your badge!" answered Chris.

Suddenly, Lt. Surge noticed Ned hiding behind his own partner. He immediately decided to change who would fight first.

"What's this? It appears that we have a coward! Change of plans! Your buddy here is going to be battling me first!" exclaimed Ned.

Chris sighed as she decided to sit in the bleachers. She was really hoping that she would be able to get this over with.

Curious, she noticed that there was a rulebook detailing the instructions for battling in Lt. Surge's gym nearby. She decided to give it a read, though it was mainly telling Pokemon trainers and their Pokemon not be weaklings.

Sure enough, there was a rule about cowards being forced to battle the gym leader first.

"Why couldn't Ned be braver?" thought Chris, still unhappy about having to battle Lt. Surge second.

Ned immediately felt nervous. He had never really been in a Gym Leader battle before. What was he going to do?

Sure enough, there was a referee ready to give him advice...he was dressed in a military outfit similar to Lt. Surge.

"Fight like a man...and don't use water types. Those are for wimps." explained the referee soldier.

"Aren't those super-effective against fire types and rock types?" inquired Ned.

"True...but they won't be doing you any good in this gym! Now fight like a soldier!" bellowed the soldier.

"Sir, yes, sir!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer in fear.

"Why am I even bothering with you? Go, Pikachu!" questioned Lt. Surge as he sent out his Pikachu.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Chris decided to give Lt. Surge's Pikachu a scan.

"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokemon! It is the most popular Pokemon in history, and stores electricity in its cheeks!" yelled Chris's Pokedex.

"This is the most popular Pokemon in history? I wonder why? I don't really see what's so special about it..." inquired Chris.

"G-go, Bellsprout!" exclaimed Ned as he dropped his Pokeball on the floor.

"Bellsprout!" cheered the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, she clapsed her mouth around Ned's hand, making him even more nervous.

"Is your Bellsprout going to even fight? I've fought way stronger Pokemon than this!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Sure enough, Ned's Bellsprout detached herself from her owner's palm.

"Pikachu, use Shock Wave!" ordered Lt. Surge.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed the electric mouse Pokemon as he zapped the opposing Bellsprout.

"Bellsprout!" bellowed the grass Pokemon. Good thing she was fairly resistant to electricity as a grass-type.

Unfortunately, Ned was too nervous at the moment to give his Pokemon instructions.

"He's...so...scary..." murmured Ned, who at this point had curled himself into a ball.

"What's this? Some trainer you are! You're not even commanding your Bellsprout to fight! That's too bad...Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" ordered Lt. Surge.

Pikachu did so, slamming into the opposing Bellsprout.

"Bellsprout, use V-vine Whip!" exclaimed Ned.

"Bellsprout?" inquired Ned's Bellsprout. Why was her owner so nervous?

Nonetheless, she decided to pelt the opposing Pikachu with vines.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the opposing Pikachu. Being struck by those vines hurt.

"I've received worse lashings than that when I was in the military! You can pull through! Pikachu, use Quick Attack again!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Pikachu did so, knocking himself into Bellsprout once again. This time, she fainted.

"B-bellsprout..." murmured Ned, who was feeling more afraid than ever as he recalled his Bellsprout into her Pokeball.

"Why did you send a baby Pokemon to fight me?" asked Lt. Surge.

"G-go, Nidoran!" exclaimed Ned.

Sure enough, his Nidoran was sent out from her Pokeball.

"Your Nidoran is a girl?! How pathetic! And here I thought your Bellsprout was wimpy!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

Ned whimpered in fear.

"U-use Double Kick!" exclaimed Ned rather nervously.

Ned's Nidoran did so, kicking Pikachu as hard as she could twice in succession.

"Pika pi..." murmured Lt. Surge's Pikachu as he fainted.

Lt. Surge seemed mildly displeased with what had happened to his Pikachu, but he got over it pretty quickly.

"You may have defeated my Pikachu, but you're still not even half the man I am! Go, Voltorb!" bellowed the lieutenant as he tossed another Pokeball.

"Voltorb!" exclaimed the Pokemon that had an odd resemblance to a Pokeball.

"Maybe I could use one to pull a prank on Ned..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Voltorb, use Sonic Boom!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Voltorb did so, hitting Nidoran with a blast of sound. For some strange reason, this technique did the same amount of damage every time.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon as she was struck.

Unfortunately, Ned was once again petrified with fear.

"I want...my mommy..." thought the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"You won't even last five minutes in the military! Voltorb, use Sonic Boom again!" commanded Lt. Surge.

Voltorb once again struck Nidoran with a blast of sound, and Nidoran fainted.

"Nidoran..." murmured the female Pokemon as she collapsed to the floor.

"Aah!" screamed Ned, horrified as to what happened to his Nidoran at the hands of Lt. Surge's Pokemon.

"Are you scared? You should be! You are no match for my Pokemon!" taunted the nasty gym leader.

Ned immediately sent out his Eevee. At this point, he was his only hope.

"Eevee, protect me!" demanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Eevee?" questioned Ned's Eevee. What seemed to be the problem? Why was Ned in danger?

Chris decided to read the rules to see if she could find anything interesting...surely there had to be a technicality she could use somewhere.

Suddenly, she noticed something in the rulebook that she could use in her advantage...once she actually got the opportunity to fight Lt. Surge

"I bet I'm going to love how he reacts. I'm sure it's going to be priceless." she thought.

"E-Eevee, use Quick Attack!" exclaimed Ned, who at this point was feeling much anxiety.

Eevee did so, pummeling into the opposing Voltorb and knocking the breath out of it...assuming Voltorbs actually breathed.

"You call that an attack? Let me show you how it's _really_ done." said Lt. Surge. "Voltorb, use Shock Wave!"

"Voltorb!" exclaimed Lt. Surge's Voltorb, charging up electricity.

The ball Pokemon happily did as its master asked of it, hitting Eevee with a huge surge of electricity.

"Use...Tackle..." murmured Ned.

Ned's Eevee did so, tackling into Lt. Surge's Voltorb and causing it to faint.

"Voltorb..." murmured the ball Pokemon.

"Well then, it's just you, me, and my strongest Pokemon of all! Go, Raichu!" exclaimed Lt. Surge as he tossed the Pokeball containing his last Pokemon.

"Raichu!" bellowed the evolved mouse Pokemon.

Chris once again gave Lt. Surge's Pokemon a scan. Was this really his strongest Pokemon of all?

"Raichu, the Mouse Pokemon. Though the evolved form of Pikachu, it is not nearly as popular as its preevolution. Nonetheless, it can store over 100,000 volts in its body."

Chris whistled. Lt. Surge apparently wasn't kidding.

Unfortunately, Ned was more frightened than ever. In fact, he seemed to be slowly crawling away from the gym leader.

"Aww, don't run away! I've still got one Pokemon left that my Raichu here can pulverize!" exclaimed Lt. Surge. "Raichu, use Shock Wave!"

Raichu did so...taking out Eevee in one shot.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon as it was brutally shocked.

"Eevee..." murmured Ned, shocked to see his starter Pokemon so horribly defeated.

"Hahaha! I told you that you weren't going to win! And yet you didn't listen to me!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Ned shivered.

The lieutenant then walked up to the nerdy Pokemon trainer and started insulting him some more.

"You call yourself a man? Your friend over here is twice the man you are, and she's a girl!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Chris opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself when she realized what Lt. Surge was saying was true.

"You're a loser! The biggest loser in history! You're a disgrace!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

This made Chris mad.

"Hey! Nobody insults my partner except me!" bellowed the tomboy hypocritically yet compassionately.

"Oh really? Personally, I don't even think you should travel with a guy like him! He's just a big baby...and I'm surprised he's not wearing a diaper!" taunted Lt. Surge.

Chris's face turned red.

"That does it! I'm challenging you one-on-one! Just your Raichu and my Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Lt. Surge simply laughed.

"You're sending a Jigglypuff to fight me? How pathetic! This battle is going to be absolutely boring!" exclaimed the electric-type Gym Leader.

"What are you doing?" asked Ned.

"What does it look like? I'm avenging you!" exclaimed Chris.

"But he's so strong..." warned the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

"Relax, I have a plan." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"No plan is going to save you from the wrath of my Raichu!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

"Whatever military man, let's just get this over with. Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris as she tossed her Jigglypuff's Pokeball.

"Jiggly!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Use Sing!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, and sang a song to make Raichu fall asleep...which succeeded magnificently.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon in his sleep.

Lt. Surge was rather surprised to see what had happened. Surely his Raichu was more powerful than that.

"What?! Wake up! Does this arena look like a place to sleep to you?!" demanded the electric-type Gym Leader.

"Yeah...about that...you might want to check the rules you set up for challenging you..." answered Chris.

"What?!" inquired the electric-type specialist.

"According to Rule 40, if you snooze in a Pokemon battle, you end up losing the fight. And since your Raichu has fallen asleep..." explained the tomboy.

"What?! That's ridiculous! Let me see that!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

Immediately, the lieutenant snatched the instruction booklet from Chris's hands and started flipping through the pages.

He then gasped in shock, realizing what she had told him was true. He promptly clutched his head.

"Noooo...nooo...noooooooo...noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" screamed Lt. Surge, realizing that he had lost.

"Yes! Yes!" exclaimed Chris, happy about her victory.

The lieutenant dropped to his knees in defeat, having fallen victim to one of his own rules.

"Fine, you can have this badge...it doesn't do much anyway...it just helps get your Pokemon to listen to you, that's all..." answered the lieutenant.

"I'll be taking my prize money too. Cough it up!" eagerly added the female Pokemon trainer.

Lt. Surge sighed and handed Chris some cash, having taken an enormous blow to his ego.

"C'mon, Ned, let's get out of here already! I'm sick of Lt. Surge yelling at us already!" exclaimed Chris.

"Um, sure..." answered Ned, shocked as to how easily his partner had defeated Lt. Surge.

"Wait, don't I still need to get the badge from the electric-type gym leader?" inquired the male Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, don't worry about that...I'm going to be teaching you...how to become a man!" exclaimed Chris.

"Do you mind if I ask you how you're going to do that? No offense...but you're a girl." answered Ned.

"Well, Lt. Surge said I'm still twice the man you are...so let's get down to business!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer in response.

"Right...of course..." nodded Ned.

To be honest to himself, he admittedly wasn't really looking forward to a thing. Was Chris really twice the man he was?

However, Ned ultimately figured if Chris's training would somehow help him defeat Lt. Surge, he supposed he could give it a try.

_Let's check on Lucy and Jake one last time for the chapter..._

"You know, I heard that there's a cave nearby that was built entirely by Pokemon...it should be the east of here..." spoke Lucy.

"Really?" inquired Jake, who all of a sudden was feeling rather curious.

"Yeah...it says that it leads from Vermillion City to Pewter City...they sure dug fairly far..." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's good to know." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"So...do you want to head there?" asked Lucy.

"I suppose it'd be nice to have a tour...though I wonder what kind of Pokemon would be able to build a tunnel like that..." questioned Jake.

"Me too. Let's find out!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

And so the two decided to check out the mysterious cave that served as a shortcut between Pewter and Vermillion City.

_Oh dear, Lt. Surge isn't the friendliest Gym Leader in Kanto, is he? He is such a sore winner...and poor Ned has had his Pokemon dominated by him...at least Chris was able to find a surprisingly easy way to get the badge though..._

_In the next chapter, Lucy will be catching a Pokemon that really likes to dig...and Chris and Ned will be boarding the S.S. Anne, since it's such an awesome cruise ship and all._

_Adios!_


	20. Chapter 20: Sailing The Seven Seas

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to be boarding the S.S. Anne...but right before that Lucy and Jake are going to enter a certain cave near Vermillion City...and Lucy's going to make a buddy._

_What kind of buddy you ask? Let's find out...though you probably know this one already._

_Oh, and Chris is going to encounter a familiar face while she's on board the S.S. Anne...one that you probably weren't expecting._

**Chapter 20: Sailing The Seven Seas**

Noticing a sign outside the cave, Lucy and Jake discovered that the cave in question was known as Diglett's Cave.

"I think it should be obvious what Pokemon we're going to find in there..." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy. Surely it was a ton of Digletts, right?

Sure enough, as soon as they entered the cave, a wild Diglett appeared.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She seemed rather surprised that a Pokemon had shown out of the blue.

"Um, hi?" asked Jake.

"Diglett?" asked the mole Pokemon curiously.

Jake decided to give the Diglett a scan.

"Diglett, the Mole Pokemon. It prefers dark places, and spends most of its time underground." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"That explains why they built this cave..." spoke Jake.

"Well, I guess we'll be going back now..." answered Lucy, heading in the other direction.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon.

Suddenly, the mole Pokemon tunneled right in front of them.

"What the-" exclaimed Jake.

"I guess he doesn't want us to leave so soon..." answered Lucy.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon, nodding his head in agreement.

Immediately, he began to burrow around them.

"Looks like it wants a Pokemon battle...but which one of us should fight it?" questioned Jake.

"I'll do it!" exclaimed Lucy. She had just the Pokemon for the job...and of course she was looking forward to using it.

Immediately, she sent out her new Bulbasaur to defeat Diglett with.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon, happy to get to participate in a Pokemon battle.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any sunlight where she was currently located.

"Bulba..." murmured Lucy's Bulbasaur, feeling rather upset.

Immediately, the wild Diglett scratched Bulbasaur in the face.

"Dig!" bellowed the mole Pokemon.

"Apparently, Digletts have claws...who would have thunk it?" noted Jake.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Bulbasaur did so, whipping the opposing Diglett as fast as she could.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon. Apparently, this was super effective. Given that Digletts were Ground-types, this wasn't very surprising.

The wild Diglett hurled some dirt into the opposing Bulbasaur's eyes.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon, who began to try to rub the sand out with her front legs.

"Use Leech Seed!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Bulbasaur did so, covering the opposing Diglett with seeds.

"Diglett..." murmured the wild Diglett, who all of a sudden wasn't feeling too well.

"I think this is your chance, Lucy." noted Jake.

Lucy nodded as she tossed a Pokeball.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

After a brief struggle, there was a ding, and Diglett was caught.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy.

"Alright!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer. Now she had a full Pokemon team.

Jake smiled, happy that Lucy had caught a new Pokemon.

Giving her new Pokemon a scan...Lucy found out this particular Diglett was male.

"Huh...another male Pokemon...that's two boys and four girls..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"I heard that the Gym Leader here is an electric-type user...you think you could use your Diglett against him?" inquired Jake.

"Maybe...I heard that there's a cruise ship nearby though...I was wondering if we could go on board..." noted Lucy.

"Do you have tickets for it?" inquired Jake.

"As a matter of fact, I do!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"It's nice of your parents to be so generous with you..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I know..." nodded Lucy.

And so, Lucy and Jake decided to visit the S.S. Anne. Surely there would be something on that ship that they would enjoy together, right?

"I wonder if Chris and Ned are going to be on that ship too..." thought Jake. He personally wondered where they would be able to get tickets for it.

_Let's see who else is boarding the cruise ship..._

"Two tickets for S.S. Anne, please!" exclaimed Chris.

"Sure, go right on ahead, ma'am." answered the sailor.

Chris and Ned happily boarded the cruise ship, where the sailor showed them their rooms.

"Now then, I want us to have another Pokemon battle." answered Chris.

"Another Pokemon battle?" inquired Ned.

"You want to become a man, don't you?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Um, yeah..." answered her partner nervously.

"Let's get it on!" exclaimed Chris.

Ned decided to send out his Bellsprout...who once again put her mouth on his hand.

"Get off!" demanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh dear...she simply won't leave you alone, now will she?" inquired Chris.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Ned, still trying to shake his Bellsprout off of him.

Bellsprout finally let go so that she could battle Chris.

"Unfortunately for you, I'll be sending out my Charmander!" exclaimed Ned's new coach.

Immediately, she threw the Pokeball containing her fire Pokemon.

"Charmander!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned, realizing that he had a type disadvantage.

"Use Ember, Charmander!" commanded Chris.

Charmander did so, roasting the unfortunate Bellsprout.

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed Ned's Bellsprout. Fortunately, she did not end up getting burned.

"Not good..." thought Ned. "Use Wrap!"

Ned's Bellsprout did so, wrapping up the opposing Charmander with vines...

Unfortunately, Charmander simply burned them away.

"Nice try, but you're going to have to do much better than that. Use Ember again!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Charmander did so, roasting the opposing Bellsprout once again, inducing fainting.

"Bellsprout..." murmured the grass Pokemon as Ned recalled her.

"Go, Nidoran!" exclaimed Ned, tossing another Pokeball.

"Nidoran!" yelled the poison Pokemon as she was sent out.

"Let's hope that your Nidoran does better than your Bellsprout did..." noted Chris.

"Er, yeah...use Double Kick!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Nidoran did so, kicking into the opposing Charmander.

"Charmander!" bellowed the salamander Pokemon. Apparently, Nidoran had gotten in a good hit.

Suddenly, Charmander struck Nidoran with a claw...which for some reason seemed to have been metallic.

"Nice! Hopefully this will help counter your weakness with Rock types..." noted Chris.

"Funny, I thought that Steel-type Pokemon weren't native to Kanto..." questioned Ned.

"Well, not Magnemite and Magneton." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Right..." nodded the dorky Pokemon trainer. Oddly enough, Magnemite and Magneton weren't discovered to be Steel Pokemon until Professor Elm began researching them.

What will professors discover about Pokemon next?

Suddenly, Nidoran struck Charmander with a poisonous attack from her barbs.

"Charmander..." murmured Chris's Charmander, who was feeling rather woozy.

"Oh great. You just poisoned my Charmander...torch the Nidoran!" exclaimed Chris.

Understanding what Chris had meant, Chris's Charmander once again used Ember on Nidoran.

"Nidoran!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

"Use Poison Sting again!" commanded Ned. "Or whatever move you just learned..."

Ned's Nidoran did so, poisoning Charmander even more.

Feeling woozy, Chris's fire Pokemon suddenly fainted.

"Well, it looks we're even then. Go Nidoran!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Nidoran!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Nidoran ran towards his opponent, ready to sting...

...but then stopped when he realized who his opponent was.

All of a sudden, both Nidoran began snuggling up against each other. Chris and Ned's cheeks both turned red.

"What's going on here?" questioned Chris.

"I don't know..." answered Ned.

Suddenly, both of the Nidoran began to glow.

"Looks like they're both evolving..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah, I can see that." answered the tomboy.

Immediately, both of the Nidoran became Nidorino and Nidorina respectively.

Chris and Ned both decided to scan their partner's Pokemon.

"Nidorino, the Poison Pin Pokemon. This aggressive Pokemon is quick to attack, and the horn on its head secretes a powerful venom." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Nidorina, the Poison Pin Pokemon! Its horn develops slowly, so it prefers physical attacks such as clawing or biting!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, would you look at that...they've both evolved simutaneously." questioned Chris.

"Should we leave them alone together?" asked Ned.

"Eh, I suppose we can consider this battle between our two Pokemon a stalemate." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah..." nodded Chris's partner.

Chris and Ned both took Nidorino and Nidorina to Chris's room before continuing their battle.

"Alright then...go Beedrill!" exclaimed Chris.

"Beedrill!" bellowed the bug Pokemon.

"Go, Geodude!" ordered Ned.

"Geodude!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

Chris facepalmed.

"Darn it! Now I'm the one with the type disadvantage...hmm..." thought Chris.

Surely there was a way for her to defeat Geodude using her Beedrill...but how?

"Er, you wouldn't happen to know any more tricks since the last time I used you for battle, now would you?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Oddly enough, Beedrill actually did. Immediately, she started stinging Geodude, twice in rapid succession.

And wouldn't you know it, Geodude got poisoned.

"Geodude..." murmured the rock Pokemon.

"Oh man!" exclaimed Ned. Just when things were finally looking up for him too.

"Well, might as well have you battle while you still can. Use Rock Throw!" commanded Ned.

Ned's Geodude did so, throwing a few rocks at Beedrill...since she was a bug-type, this was super effective.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bee Pokemon. Those rocks really hurt.

"Geodude!" cheered Ned's Geodude. She was pretty confident that she was going to win this fight.

"Keep using Twineedle I guess...that's the new move you learned, right?" questioned Chris.

Chris's Beedrill nodded, and started stinging Geodude with both of her stingers.

"Keep using Rock Throw!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Geodude so, hurling more rocks against Chris's Beedrill. She was now feeling rather weak.

"Darn it...keeps using Twineedle I guess...it's the only move that I can think of that won't suffer from a type disadvantage..." answered Chris.

Chris's Beedrill nodded, and struck Geodude with another bug-type attack. Ned's Geodude at this point was feeling weak.

Nonetheless, Ned was able to finish off Beedrill with just one more rock-type attack.

"Beedrill..." murmured the bee Pokemon, who was now lying down on the floor with her rather large eyes shut tight.

"Well, now to send out my Spearow, I guess." answered Chris.

"Doesn't that have a type disadvantage too?" questioned Ned.

"Darn it! I really need to get a Grass or a Water type..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah, maybe..." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Hit it with Pursuit!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so, pummeling into Geodude, who was now feeling exhausted.

"Hold on, Geodude! Use Rock Throw!" commanded Ned.

Once again, Ned's Geodude hurled rocks at the enemy, taking advantage of its type advantage.

"Spearow!" exclaimed Chris's Spearow. Much like Beedrill, he was suffering a lot of damage from those stones.

However, at that very moment, Ned's Geodude fainted.

"Geodude..." murmured the rock Pokemon. The poison had taken its toll.

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed Ned. Why did his Geodude have to faint now?

"Just two Pokemon left, huh?" answered Chris.

Ned nodded as he sent out...his Magikarp.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon, who was splashing about.

"You still have that Magikarp that con artist gave you, huh?" questioned Chris.

"Uh-huh..." answered Ned.

"I can't believe he tricked you like that." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned nodded his head in agreement, though he did remember what the three sisters at Cerulean Gym had told him.

"Er, use Splash...I guess." noted Ned.

Ned's Magikarp splashed about...but it did nothing to the enemy Spearow.

"What a disappointment. Use Peck!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so...but at the last minute, it decided to use a stronger attack.

Immediately, it flew into Magikarp as fast as it could, doing a large amount of damage.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon.

"Huh, you've learned Aerial Ace...I guess you won't need to use Peck anymore." noted Chris.

Chris's Spearow nodded, and promptly forgot the technique. Out with the old, in with the new.

Suddenly, something clicked inside Magikarp, and he suddenly tackled into Spearow.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon.

Unfortunately, it didn't do much damage...nonetheless, Ned was surprised that Magikarp had actually learned a damaging technique.

"Guess you'll be able to fight now...though I don't think you'll be able to do much damage..." noted Ned.

Magikarp nodded.

"Your Magikarp has learned how to tackle...big deal! He's still going to faint. Use Aerial Ace!" exclaimed Chris.

Once again, Spearow flew into the enemy Magikarp...and as Chris said would happen, Magikarp winded up fainting.

"Magikarp..." murmured Ned's Magikarp. Why did he have to be so weak? Surely he would grow up to be big and strong one day...

"Hopefully you'll eventually become stronger..." noted Ned as he recalled his Magikarp into his Pokeball.

"Looks like it's just your Eevee now." answered Chris.

"Yeah, it's just my Eevee..." answered her partner.

Ned sent out his Eevee to defeat Chris's Spearow.

"Do your best!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded, eager to battle and become stronger. Hopefully next time he wouldn't get taken down in one hit by Lt. Surge's Raichu.

"Use Quick Attack!" commanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Ned's Eevee did so, pummeling into Chris's Spearow, and causing him to faint.

"It's just our starter Pokemon this time...reminds me of our first battle." noted Chris.

"Yeah, i know..." nodded Ned.

Chris sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

"Alright...this is a one-on-one fight now, so you had better make it count." explained Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff nodded, not wanting to disappoint her trainer.

"Use Sing!" commanded Chris.

Jigglypuff immediately began to sing a lullaby to make her opponent fall asleep.

However, Ned's Eevee knew what Jigglypuff had planned, and covered his ears to help resist the song. Unfortunately, he was still rather sleepy.

"Ah, you're still awake! Good! Hit Jigglypuff with a Sand-Attack!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Eevee did so, hurling sand into Chris's Jigglypuff's eyes.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon. Apparently, Ned's Eevee was a lot stronger than before.

"Use Pound!" commanded Chris.

Jigglypuff did so, pummeling into Ned's Eevee as hard as she possibly could.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the evolution Pokemon.

Suddenly, Eevee sank his teeth into the enemy Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

"Oh...he learned Bite." noted Ned.

Ned decided to have his Eevee forget Quick Attack, since he already knew Swift.

"Try making him fall asleep again." answered Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so...and this time, Eevee fell asleep.

"No!" exclaimed Ned.

Suddenly, Jigglypuff started rolling into Ned's Eevee.

"You can use Rollout now?" questioned Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded.

Chris decided to have Jigglypuff forget Defense Curl, since she figured that her Pokemon didn't need it anymore.

Jigglypuff kept on rolling into Eevee, doing more and more damage while he was asleep...

...and eventually, Ned's Eevee fainted.

Ned sighed as he returned his starter Pokemon to his Pokeball and gave Chris some Pokedollars.

"Well, at least your Nidoran evolved." noted Chris.

"Er, yeah." nodded Ned, happy that his Nidoran was now a Nidorina and therefore would be that much stronger in combat.

Chris and Ned both went into Ned's room to recall their poison Pokemon, who as as it turns out were still together.

"I hope you two had fun, but we need you to return to your Pokeballs." noted Chris.

Nidorino and Nidorina sighed as they were returned to their Pokeballs, realizing what she had told them was true.

"How are we going to rest our Pokemon while we're on this ship, anyway? Nurse Joy isn't around..." questioned Ned.

"Er, yeah, about that...I bet we can probably just use our beds..." answered Chris.

"How is that supposed to work?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"It's simple...we just rest in our beds and our Pokemon get healed. That's what it says on that poster right above yours..." stated the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned read the poster nearby which said "USE THIS TO RESTORE YOUR POKEMON."

"Oh." realized Ned. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

"Mm-hmm...you use yours and I'll use mine." spoke Chris as she went to her own room.

Ned nodded as he decided to rest. Sure enough, his Pokemon were healed within minutes.

"I personally wonder how that works." thought the dorky Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Chris was resting along with her Pokemon in the room of her own. Apparently the room had been designed based on her tastes, since it was black as ink.

"Yeah...this cruise is going to be awesome...and yet I can't help but shake the feeling that there's going to be a snag sooner or later..." questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, she heard knocking on her door.

"Who's there?" inquired Chris. For some reason, the knocking in question sounded rather obnoxious.

Opening the door, she immediately groaned. It was the same Pokemon trainer that she had gotten her Charmander from.

Oddly enough, now that she thought of it, he very much resembled the many youngsters that were roaming Kanto...only instead of wearing an orange hat and shorts he was wearing green ones, and instead of wearing a blue shirt he was wearing a purple one.

"Hey you! Yeah you! I'm here to reclaim my Charmander!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Didn't your Charmander voluntarily decide to come along with me?" inquired Chris.

"Well, there's no way I'm letting him travel with a weak Pokemon trainer like you! He deserves better than that!" bellowed the unfriendly youngster.

An anger mark appeared on Chris's forehead.

"Are you saying I'm weak?! And that my Charmander shouldn't travel with me because of that?!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Of course! I have a new starter Pokemon that's going to rock the socks off your Charmander!" exclaimed Jerry.

"But my Charmander doesn't actually wear socks...anyways, is this a challenge?!" answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Of course it is! It's just you, me, my new Pokemon, and your Charmander!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Right, of course..." nodded Chris.

As before, they decide to battle right outside their rooms. Unfortunately for Chris, Jerry was her next-door neighbor on the cruise.

"Go, Charmander." answered the female Pokemon trainer as she sent out her Charmander. To be honest, she actually wasn't really looking forward to battling with Jerry.

Realizing who he was up against, Charmander began to glare at his former Pokemon trainer. He was just as nasty as ever.

"Hey there! Remember me! You're going back where you belong!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Charmander..." murmured the salamander Pokemon, remembering how abusive his former Pokemon trainer was to him.

"Go, Paras!" exclaimed Jerry, sending out his new Pokemon.

"Paras!" bellowed the parasite Pokemon as he was sent out.

Chris gave Jerry's Paras a scan. For some reason, she got the feeling that his Pokemon didn't stand a chance against a Fire-type.

"Paras, the Mushroom Pokemon. The mushrooms that grow on its back absorb nutrients from their host." explained Chris's Pokedex.

"You sure it's comfortable with that?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Paras par!" exclaimed the mushroom Pokemon. For some strange reason, most Paras actually enjoyed having that happen to them.

Realizing what type of Pokemon Paras was, Chris suddenly began to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" exclaimed Jerry.

"You do realize you just picked the worst possible Pokemon you could use to battle me, am I right?" inquired Chris.

"What?!" bellowed the youngster.

"Isn't it obvious? Your Paras is a grass and a bug type. That means it has a quadruple weakness against fire types." answered Chris.

Sure enough, his Paras was pretty frightened to have to face a fire type.

"Don't be ridiculous! Let's get 'em, Paras!" exclaimed Jerry, pushing Paras towards Charmander.

"Paras!" screeched the parasite Pokemon in horror.

This made Charmander even more angry, recalling how Jerry would push him towards Pokemon he really didn't want to fight.

"Charmander!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. He personally wanted to wipe that smug grin off his Pokemon trainer's face...though he didn't want to set fire to the ship. That would be a disaster waiting to happen.

"You don't believe me, huh? Well then, I guess you need a demonstration. Use Ember!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Charmander did so, roasting Jerry's Paras and taking him out in one shot.

"Paras..." murmured the grass and bug Pokemon.

Jerry was not amused as to how badly his Paras had fared in combat.

"You are absolutely worthless! Why do I even have a Pokemon like you?!" exclaimed the youngster.

Jerry's Paras began to cry. Earlier that week he had made him fight against a Pidgeot, and greedily devoured one of his mushrooms.

"I bet you're not even going to evolve into a Parasect one day!" bellowed the trainer.

"Really, Jerry?" questioned Chris. As before, he was being a really big jerk.

Suddenly, Chris's Charmander walked up to Paras and told him that he would be in much better hands if he became Chris's Pokemon.

Paras nodded, and suddenly, he tapped the release button for Jerry's Pokeball.

"What the-" exclaimed the youngster.

Paras then tapped the button on one of Chris's Pokeballs and captured himself.

"Not again!" bellowed Jerry, who was now feeling an unpleasant sense of deja vu.

"Serves you right for mistreating Pokemon. Speaking of which, thanks for giving me another one!" answered Chris.

"Charmander!" taunted Chris's Charmander.

Jerry ran back to his room, crying his head off all the while. He apparently didn't take losing too well.

"It's not fair! Boohoo! Wah! I'll get you, Chris! I'll get you someday! Mommy!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Sheesh...he makes Ned look like a sumo wrestler..." noted Chris.

Chris's Charmander nodded in agreement. He was glad that he had left Jerry while he had the chance.

Chris decided to tell Ned the good news a few minutes later, knocking on his door.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to rest my Pokemon!" exclaimed Ned.

"Are they still healing?" questioned the tomboy.

Curious, Ned decided to give them a check...oddly enough, they seemed to be rather fine.

"Oh...never mind. You can come in." answered the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

Chris happily entered Ned's room.

"I encountered Jerry again...he said that he wanted his Charmander back...even though he did nothing to him than treat him like garbage..." answered Chris.

"Really?" questioned Ned. Personally, he wondered if Jerry had gotten in trouble for abusing Pokemon in the past. Then again, Jerry never really seemed to learn from his mistakes.

"Yeah...turns out he was my next-door neighbor on this ship just like you...what were the chances of that?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"So what did he do?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, he challenged my Charmander and I to a duel...but guess what? He sent out a Paras to defeat him..." answered Chris.

"A Paras? Aren't those severely weak against fire Pokemon?" inquired Ned.

"I know...I tried to warn him but he just didn't listen. Serves him right." answered Chris.

"Anyways, guess what? His Paras decided to abandon him just like his Charmander did...and now he's one of my Pokemon too..." she continued.

"Really? It's nice of you to take him in." asked Ned.

"Yeah...so, are your Pokemon any stronger after that duel we had earlier? I know mine are." questioned Chris.

"Well, I suppose they got some experience..." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Very good. Smell you later." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"I just washed my labcoat..." replied Ned.

"It's just a figure of speech...don't take it literally. Smell you later!" exclaimed Chris.

"OK..." answered her partner.

Chris left Ned's room and went back to her own. Hopefully Jerry would leave her alone for the time being, though she doubted this would be the last she saw of him.

_Meanwhile..._

Lucy and Jake happily walked towards the S.S. Anne, ready to go on a cruise before challenging Lt. Surge.

"It's nice to be able to take a break after so much travelling..." noted Lucy.

Indeed, they had spent quite some time getting their first two badges alone. Going on a Pokemon journey was rather enjoyable, but it did require a lot of running around.

Personally, Lucy was glad that she remembered the bike vouchers her parents when she did. She wondered if she should try thanking them later.

"Yeah..." nodded Jake in agreement. He personally didn't think that he'd actually be able to go on a cruise in his lifetime...but Lucy ultimately proved him wrong.

"Ticket, please." asked the sailor standing in front of the S.S. Anne.

"Sure!" answered Lucy, handing the sailor two tickets for both of them.

"Thank you. Enjoy your cruise, you two." answered the seaman.

Lucy and Jake nodded as they happily boarded the S.S. Anne.

Unbeknowst to them, a nearby Squirtle was lurking in the water...and was looking for a way to board the S.S. Anne.

Why you may ask? Because she had heard that there were valuables on board the ship...and of course some delicious food for Pokemon as well.

She decided that the best way to do was to try to stow away...

...and so she decided to sneak into a certain Pokemon trainer's backpack, which turned out to be Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"What is it, Clefairy? We're trying to board the ship here..." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy decided not to tell her. It was probably nothing, though she couldn't help but shake the feeling that they now had a stowaway.

All of a sudden, the Team Rocket Grunt began to feel rather exhausted.

"Why did my backpack get so heavy all of a sudden?" inquired Jake.

Surprisingly enough, the sailor had not actually noticed the Squirtle sneaking her way inside the ship. He was still busy checking Pokemon trainers to see if they had their tickets.

The Squirtle smiled to herself, happy that her plan was going well. S.S. Anne, here she came!

_Were you surprised to hear from Jerry again? You probably thought that he was going to be simply a one-time character..._

_To be honest, I was actually thinking of that myself...but I eventually got a few more ideas as to how I could use him...so, I hope you don't mind Chris continuing to teach him a lesson._

_Of course, if you want me to do, I can make him undergo character development and change him into something else...I'm not going to mutate him into a monster though, so don't ask me to do that._

_In the next chapter, Jake is going to meet a friend...and Jerry is going to make a big mistake._

_So until next time! Peace!_


	21. Chapter 21: Atrocious Pool Party

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jerry is going to get yet another Pokemon to help him defeat Chris...but something is going to go wrong...which is a shame, since all of our heroes are going to try to relax in the pool._

_But on the flipside, Jake's going to get a Kanto starter Pokemon...which of course will leave Ned as the only character that doesn't have one of them...heh heh._

_Seriously, Jerry needs to be more mature._

**Chapter 21: Atrocious Pool Party**

Jerry was angrier than ever now that Chris had defeated him twice and had snagged two of his Pokemon. He wanted a Pokemon that would be able to defeat her with ease...but where would he be able to get one?

Suddenly, he noticed that there was a shady-looking salesman on the ship. He was giving away Magikarps for just five hundred Pokedollars.

Though the guests on the cruise ship seemed rather suspicious of him, Jerry decided to pay him a visit anyway.

"Hey there! What are you selling?!" exclaimed Jerry.

"I'm selling Magikarps, the strongest Pokemon of them all!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.

"Sweet! How much do they cost?" asked the nasty youngster.

"Just five hundred Pokedollars!" answered the salesman.

"Perfect!" nodded the youngster, unaware that he was being tricked.

Reaching into his wallet, he pulled out five hundred Pokedollars, and gave them to a certain con artist.

"Thank you! Here is your Magikarp!" answered the salesman.

Jerry happily accepted his new Pokemon.

"Yes! Now I'm going to finally be able to defeat that lousy teenager and her Charmander! I'll teach him for deserting me! And while I'm at it I'll teach that Paras a lesson too...since you know, he also deserted me." thought Jerry.

He went to find Chris once again...he decided to check her room.

Immediately, he busted down the door.

"Alright! We're battling each other again, whether you like it or not! And this time I'm going to win!" exclaimed Jerry.

But as it turned out, she wasn't in her room. Instead, there was a note. Curious, the youngster decided to give it a note. He decided to give it a read.

"Dear Jerry, since you're inevitably going to be bothering me again about my Charmander deserving a better Pokemon trainer than me (which I personally find ironic considering the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm ten times the Pokemon trainer you are, by the way), I'll be relaxing at the pool."

"Darn it! Just when I needed her, too!" bellowed the cruel Pokemon trainer.

Knowing that usually Chris travelled with a rather nerdy Pokemon trainer that somewhat resembled a scientist, he decided to see if he was still in his room.

However as it turns out, Ned was gone too. Apparently, he had went with Chris so that he could relax in the pool.

"Blast!" he exclaimed. "Well, I might as well start looking."

And so Jerry went to search for Chris and Ned so that he could at long last get his revenge.

Suddenly, he remembered something important.

"Darn it! I need to get my swim trunks!" bellowed the youngster.

And so he went to get his swimsuit.

_Meanwhile..._

"Ugh, this suitcase has been killing me..." thought Jake.

"Since when was it so heavy? You had no problem lifting it before we got on the ship..." noted Lucy.

"I know..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt. He wondered if there was something at work here.

Suddenly, his suitcase began to shake.

"What the-" he thought.

"I'm starting to get the feeling we might have a stowaway..." questioned Lucy.

Sure enough, a Squirtle jumped out of the suitcase, much to their surprise.

"Squirtle!" exclaimed the turtle Pokemon.

"How'd you get in there?" questioned Jake.

"Squirtle!" answered the wild Squirtle.

"You stowed away?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"You must have been desperate to get on that ship..." noted Lucy.

"Squirtle!" nodded the water Pokemon.

"So let me get this straight...you've been trying to get on that ship for quite some time now?" asked Jake.

The wild Squirtle nodded.

"Well, you made me worry for a second that I was going to break my back...so I hope you're happy." answered Jake.

The Squirtle dropped her head sadly.

Jake sighed.

"I suppose you can relax on this ship with me if you want to...but no more hitchhiking." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

The wild Squirtle nodded.

"And if it's OK with you, I'll be taking you in as my Pokemon considering the encumbrance you made me go through."

"Squirtle!" answered the stowaway Squirtle. That seemed fair enough.

Jake promptly caught the wild Squirtle in his Pokeball.

"Alright then..." nodded Jake.

The Team Rocket Grunt gave the turtle Pokemon a scan with his Pokedex. As it turns out, this one was a female.

"Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokemon. Though its shell starts off soft in birth, it rapidly begins to harden as it grows up." explained the Pokedex.

"That's nice to know...wait, how do I tell a male Squirtle apart from a female Squirtle anyway?" questioned the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I heard that male Squirtles love wearing shades..." noted Lucy.

"Really?" questioned Jake. "How would they be able to wear those while they swam?"

The female Pokemon trainer shrugged.

Curious, Jake sent out his new Squirtle and showed her a pair of shades. She didn't seem too interested.

"Squirtle?" inquired Jake's Squirtle.

"Yep, this one's a girl." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"You think she would be interested in swimming in the pool? I heard that the ship has one..." noted Lucy.

Jake's Squirtle jumped up and down.

"I'll take that as a yes...though you actually seem pretty fine on land." noted Jake.

Jake's new Kanto starter Pokemon shrugged.

"Alright then...let's go put on our swimsuits." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy nodded in agreement.

"I'll just be leaving." answered the female Pokemon trainer, heading to her own room.

Lucy's Clefairy of course stood outside both of their rooms. Oddly enough, she was looking forward to going for a swim too.

_Meanwhile at the pool..._

Ned and Chris were both relaxing at the pool...the former was wearing a pair of white swim trunks, while the latter was wearing a black bikini.

"Why are you dressed in white?" inquired Chris.

"There was a mishap at the dry-cleaners?" asked Ned.

"Fair enough." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"I have to admit, it sure is nice to finally know how to swim." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"I'm sure that will come in handy if you ever fall overboard." nodded Chris.

"What?" inquired Ned.

Suddenly, Ned noticed that there were two girls also swimming in the pool, and he immediately went to flirt with them.

"Hi girls! You're more beautiful than the ocean itself!" exclaimed the flirtacious Pokemon trainer.

Chris promptly splashed Ned in the face for not being able to control his impulses.

"What was that for?!" he exclaimed.

"Quit flirting with so many girls." demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

"It's hard for me to resist..." noted Ned.

"I know..." nodded Chris.

"Hey you! Yeah you!" exclaimed Jerry.

Suddenly, she looked around and discovered that the obnoxious youngster that she had encountered twice before was standing there in his red swim trunks.

"Oh brother. You just won't cut me some slack, now will you?" asked Chris.

"I'm going to crush you! This time I have a Pokemon that's super-effective against your pathetic Charmander! Get ready to lose!" exclaimed Jerry.

"I find that very hard to believe..." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"By the way, your bikini sucks!" bellowed the youngster.

"OK..." answered Chris. Why did he hate her swimsuit?

Immediately, he pulled out his Pokeball from his hat.

"Go, Magikarp!" exclaimed Jerry.

Jerry immediately sent out his Magikarp.

Chris began to laugh out loud.

"You know what, you're not even worth my time anymore! Ned, you take care of him!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"You want me to do it?" asked Ned.

"I'm pretty sure you'll be able to defeat him...I'm pretty sure he only has one Pokemon..." nodded Chris.

"But all I have is my Magikarp..." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

As it turns out, he had taken his fish Pokemon to go for a swim with him.

"Meh, I'm sure you'll be able to beat him. He's that bad." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"If you say so." nodded Ned.

Oddly enough, he got the feeling that Jerry had purchased that Magikarp from the Magikarp Salesman...and had asked much fewer questions than he did.

"Magikarp, use Splash!" commanded the youngster.

Magikarp splashed around, but absolutely nothing happened.

"Hmm, maybe you're right." nodded Ned.

"See, I told you." answered Chris.

"Magikarp, use Tackle!" exclaimed the unmasculine Pokemon trainer.

Magikarp did so, pummeling into Jerry's fellow Magikarp.

"Keep using Splash!" exclaimed Jerry.

Magikarp splashed much more...but as before, nothing happened.

"Keep using Tackle!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Magikarp did so, hitting Jerry's Magikarp once again, who was now feeling rather exhausted.

"Now you're just being pathetic. Use Splash and take down this loser's stupid Magikarp already!" exclaimed Ned.

Jerry's Magikarp did so half-heartedly. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.

"You can do this! Use Tackle!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Magikarp did so, striking down jerry's Magikarp and making him faint.

"What do you know, my Magikarp actually managed to win a Pokemon for a change." noted Ned.

"Good for him." answered Chris. Personally she felt that she had already outgrown Jerry...and wondered if her partner would rapidly outgrow him as well.

Rather than being supportive towards his new Magikarp, he instead decided to be abrasive.

"You absolutely disgust me! You can't even fight at all! I bought you from that salesman looking for the best Pokemon ever and yet all I got from him was a wimp!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Just as I thought." murmured Ned.

"Magikarp!" exclaimed the fish Pokemon. Why was his owner being so cruel?

"That does it! I'm releasing you! Have fun fending yourself in the wild!" bellowed the Pokemon-abusing youngster.

"He wouldn't..." whispered Ned.

Pressing the button on his Pokeball, Magikarp was surrounded in a blue light.

"He would." answered Chris.

All of a sudden, Magikarp began to feel rather angry. How dare his trainer treat him like this!

Immediately, he picked up his former Magikarp and threw him into the pool.

"You'll never grow up to be a strong Pokemon! You...are...a...loser!" bellowed Jerry.

His cruelty to Magikarp would prove to be a big mistake.

Overwhelmed by rage by how his former owner had treated him, Magikarp suddenly began to evolve. In the process, he began to rapidly grow in size.

"What the-" exclaimed Jerry.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed Jerry's former Magikarp. He had evolved into a Gyarados.

Ned began to feel very, very frightened. Even Chris of all people looked disturbed.

Fortunately, his Pokedex was waterproof, so he was able to bring it with him to the pool. He immediately gave it a scan.

"Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokemon. Brutally vicious and extremely destructive, it is capable of destroying entire cities." explained the Pokedex.

"What?!" screamed Ned.

Chris began to feel nervous. It was now clear that this Pokemon was capable of single-handedly destroying the ship.

Immediately, everyone on the ship began to run away from the Gyarados. The farther they were from it, the better.

Sure enough, Gyarados was causing a lot of destruction. Already, many things on the ship had been wrecked.

Unfortunately for Jerry, it seemed that he was too dumb to realize that he was in danger.

"Hey there, Gyarados! You are so awesome! How would you like to be my Pokemon partner?!" exclaimed the youngster.

Unfortunately for Jerry, Gyarados immediately recognized his former Pokemon trainer, and he began to feel even more angry than before.

And to make matters worse for him, he now had the chance to get his revenge.

Immediately, he let out a tremendous roar.

"Um, let's talk about it?" inquired Jerry.

Jerry's Gyarados then picked up the youngster by the teeth and started shaking him like a rag doll. All of a sudden, he began to feel rather dizzy.

Gyarados then tossed Jerry overboard.

"Aah!" he exclaimed as he fell into the ocean.

Chris and Ned both gasped in shock at this display of sheer power. Unsurprisingly, Both of them immediately scrambled out of the water.

"What are we going to do?" inquired Chris.

"There's got to be something that we can do to stop it...but I personally have no idea." answered Ned.

Suddenly, they noticed that Magikarp was still in the pool.

"Oh no! Magikarp!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, he dove into the water to save him.

"I guess he's braver than I thought..." Chris wondered to herself.

Personally, she thought that maybe she should give Ned a hand...but unfortunately she had not taken any Pokemon with her...not even her Jigglypuff.

"I picked a real bad day to do that..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately for Ned, Jerry's former Gyarados picked him up by his fangs and started shaking him about as well. Apparently, he was going to do to Ned what he had done to his former Pokemon trainer.

"No!" exclaimed Chris.

Fortunately for Ned, Magikarp noticed what his trainer had done for him and decided that it should give his trainer a reward for risking his life to save him.

Suddenly, he also began to evolve.

"Wait, what?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Ned's Magikarp had also become a Gyarados.

Immediately, he slammed into the fellow Gyarados that was threatening his Pokemon trainer, causing him to drop Ned harmlessly on the floor.

"Magikarp, is that you?" inquired Ned.

Ned's Gyarados nodded. All of a sudden, a battle between the two Gyarados began.

Suddenly, Lucy and Jake arrived on the scene. Jake was wearing blue swim trunks, while Lucy was wearing a pink one-piece. They immediately noticed that there were two Gyarados fighting in the pool, and wondered what was happening.

"What's going on here?!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Looks like this is some sort of battle..." questioned Jake.

"It sure is intense..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, they began to get rather worried. Were they going to sink the ship?

Sure enough, they were fighting rather viciously. Both of them were significantly injured already, as they had been biting and thrashing into each other.

Ned had exited the pool and was watching his Gyarados battle with Jerry's former Pokemon.

Suddenly, he remembered that Jerry had been tossed overboard, and began to worry about his safety despite the way he had treated his own Pokemon earlier.

As it turns out, Lucy's Clefairy had also noticed, and was trying to get her owner's attention.

"Huh? What is it?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

"What? Someone fell overboard?!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's not good..." thought Jake.

Sure enough, Jerry was right at the bottom of the ship...and to make matters worse, he was unable to swim.

"Help me!" exclaimed the youngster.

Lucy immediately sent out her Pidgeotto.

"You need to fly down there and save him!" commanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Pidgeotto nodded, and she immediately flew down and grabbed onto Jerry, nearly getting pulled underwater in the process.

Jerry was surprisingly grateful that Lucy had saved him.

"Yes! Thank you for saving me! You're my friend forever!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Um, you're welcome?" asked Lucy.

"Huh, at least he can show gratitude." thought Chris.

As it turns out, Ned's Gyarados had overpowered Jerry's former Gyarados, much to Ned's happiness.

"You did it, Gyarados!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Ned's Gyarados smiled.

Suddenly, the captain of the ship arrived.

"What is going on here?!" he exclaimed.

Apparently, he had heard from the passengers on the ship that things had gone horribly wrong.

Chris was happy to explain, looking forward to getting revenge on Jerry. She was actually pretty sick of how he was treating Pokemon.

"Well, let's see...Jerry here was abusing his Magikarp...and when it evolved, it became incredibly hostile and started attacking him and my buddy here." explained Chris.

Ned nodded his head in agreement.

"What?!" exclaimed the captain.

He promptly glared at Jerry, realizing that he was responsible for what had happened and the destruction the Gyarados had caused.

Jerry promptly laughed nervously.

"Well then...it looks I'm going to have to kick you off this ship." answered the captain.

"What?!" the youngster exclaimed.

"If you had treated your Magikarp better, it probably wouldn't have evolved into a Gyarados and started attacking the ship, would it not?" he inquired.

"Um..." answered Jerry.

"I can't say I approve of Pokemon abuse on my ship, I'd say. I heard from another passenger that you'd also been abusing your Paras...simply because it lost fights that it couldn't possibly win." answered the captain.

"Uh-oh..." thought the youngster.

"We'll be sending you to your room for the rest of your cruise. Hopefully you'll start treating your Pokemon with respect in the near future." explained the captain.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!" exclaimed Jerry.

Two sailors immediately grabbed the youngster by the arms and dragged him away.

"That's what I would call karma." answered Chris.

Ned nodded his head in agreement, though he wondered if he was going to blame them both for the whole thing.

"I wonder what the guy's problem was?" inquired Lucy.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered Jake.

About an hour later, the ship arrived back in Vermillion City. Ned recalled his new Gyarados back into his Pokeball. Thankfully, he didn't seem nearly as violent as Jerry's former Gyarados was.

Then again, Ned was rather friendly towards him and had allowed him to go for a swim.

"Well, that cruise sure was refreshing." noted Lucy.

"Yeah...aside from those Gyarados fighting each other...that was rather intense..." noted Jake.

Lucy nodded her head in agreement. If only that youngster had treated his Pokemon better, maybe this all could have been avoided.

"At least I got a new Pokemon out of the cruise." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Uh-huh!" answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Jake got an idea.

"Say, would you be interested in battling again? I figured we could use a little more training before we battle Lt. Surge..." asked the grunt.

"Sure, why not!" answered Lucy.

"Alright then...I'll send out my Squirtle first." answered Jake.

Immediately, Jake sent out his Squirtle.

"Squirtle!" exclaimed the tiny turtle Pokemon, happy to have her first battle.

"Alright then...I'll send out my Bulbasaur!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the dinosaur Pokemon.

Jake sighed. Already this battle was off to a bad start.

"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!" commanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur did so, whipping into Squirtle and doing a large amount of damage.

"Squirtle!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. Those vines really hurt.

Knowing that Bulbasaur would inevitably resist Squirtle's water attacks, Jake decided it was best to try something else.

"Squirtle, use Tackle!" ordered Jake.

Squirtle did so, pummeling into the opposing Bulbasaur.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Use Vine Whip again!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Bulbasaur did so, whipping into Squirtle once again. At this point, the latter was feeling rather weak.

"Oh man...keep using Tackle! " demanded Jake.

Jake's Squirtle did so, striking Bulbasaur once again.

Unfortunately, Bulbasaur finished Squirtle off with another vine whip before she could get another attack in.

"Well, I've got five Pokemon left..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

This time, he decided to send out a Pokemon that was better-suited to taking down Bulbasaur.

"Go, Zubat!" exclaimed Jake.

"Zubat!" shouted the bat Pokemon.

"Hmm, looks like you're at a disadvantage now, Bulbasaur." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Bulbasaur nodded, though she figured maybe she still had a chance.

"So, do you have any new tricks up your sleeve, Zubat?" questioned Jake.

Jake's Zubat nodded, and struck Lucy's Bulbasaur with his wings. This proved to be super-effective.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Bulba..." murmured the plant pokemon.

"Oh, looks like you've learned Wing Attack." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

Zubat nodded. Hopefully that would come in handy in case he had to face a Bug Pokemon or a Grass-type like Lucy's Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur responded by knocking down Zubat...but unfortunately hurt herself in the process.

"Oh! Looks like you've learned Take Down..." answered Lucy.

Lucy decided to make Bulbasaur forget Tackle...since she wouldn't need the move anymore.

Unfortunately for Bulbasaur, Jake had Zubat hit her with another wing attack, causing her to faint.

In order to defeat Zubat, Lucy decided to send out her Kadabra next.

"Go, Kadabra!" she exclaimed as she tossed Kadabra's Pokeball.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon, happy to be sent out.

"Use Confusion!" ordered Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy's Kadabra hit Zubat with a psychic attack...this proved to be super effective.

"Zubat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon.

However, he was still able to fight.

"Use Bite!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Zubat immediately sank his teeth into Kadabra, which suffice to say was rather harmful towards the latter.

"Use Kinesis!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra did so, causing Zubat to lose accuracy.

"Darn it! Now I'm probably going to miss. Well, you might as well use Bite...that's usually effective against Psychic-types." answered Jake.

Zubat nodded and sank his teeth into Kadabra. Fortunately, he did not miss. Unfortunately for Kadabra, he took a lot of damage.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"You can still do this! Keep using Confusion!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Kadabra did so...and Jake's Zubat fainted.

"Well, four more Pokemon to go." answered Jake as he recalled his Zubat.

Since all his other Pokemon were Poison (or a Fighting type in Mankey's case), he decided to send out his trusty pal, Rattata.

"Go, Rattata!" exclaimed Jake.

"Rattata!" bellowed the rat Pokemon.

Immediately, he sank his teeth into Kadabra, causing him to faint.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"He sure is fast, isn't he?" noted Lucy.

Jake nodded. It was nice to have a rather agile Pokemon for Pokemon battles.

Lucy recalled her Kadabra, and decided to send out Pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

It became apparent that Jake was now at a disadvantage, since his Rattata hadn't evolved yet.

"Use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto nodded, and immediately Rattata began to be blown away.

"Rattata!" exclaimed the rat Pokemon.

"Try biting into Pidgeotto!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Rattata nodded, sinking his teeth into Pidgeotto.

Noting that Jake had a Mankey and an Oddish on his team, Lucy decided to take her chances with Whirlwind.

"Use Whirlwind!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so, and Rattata was blown away.

Mankey ended up being switched out.

"Mankey?" inquired the monkey Pokemon.

"This isn't good." thought Jake.

"Pidgeotto, use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so, and Mankey started to be spun around.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon. Apparently, he really wasn't enjoying this battle.

"Er, use Karate Chop, I guess." answered Jake.

Jake's Mankey did so, chopping into Pidgeotto.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Well, keep using Gust, I guess." ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so...suffice to say, it looked as if Mankey wouldn't be able to handle the assault for much longer.

"Mankey..." murmured the monkey Pokemon.

"Use Fury Swipes!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Mankey immediately started scratching into Pidgeotto many different times.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon. It looks like Mankey's attacks were starting to take their toll.

Once again, Pidgeotto struck Mankey with a gust of wind...and he fainted.

"Darn it! Now I only have three Pokemon left..." answered Jake.

Jake decided to send out his Rattata again.

"Alright, buddy, let's go!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Rattata nodded.

"Try biting again!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt.

Rattata once again sank his teeth into Lucy's Pidgeotto.

"Alright then...use Quick Attack!" commanded Lucy.

Pidgeotto struck into Rattata as hard as she could, which proved to be rather effective. Rattata was exhausted.

"Hang in there!" exclaimed Jake.

Suddenly, Rattata began to feel rather...odd.

"Rattata?" inquired the rat Pokemon.

Suddenly, he began to evolve.

"This sure seems to be happening a lot to our Pokemon lately..." noted Jake.

"It's not like it's a bad thing." answered Lucy.

"True..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, Jake's Rattata was now a Raticate.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Jake's new Raticate.

Sure enough, Raticate now had a new technique to go with evolving. Immediately, he sank his fangs into Pidgeotto hyperactively.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Alright...looks like you've learned Hyper Fang!" congratulated Raticate.

Raticate cheered.

Pidgeotto immediately collapsed on the ground. She had fainted.

"Well, it's three on three now." noted Lucy as she recalled her Pidgeotto.

This time, she decided to send out her Diglett.

"Go, Diglett!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"DIglett dig!" bellowed the ground Pokemon.

Jake immediately decided to recall his Raticate so that he could switch to Oddish...but unfortunately Diglett went right in front of the Pokeball to prevent this.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon.

"That is one smart Diglett." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Alright then, use Scratch!" ordered Lucy.

Diglett did so, scratching into Raticate...and since he was worn out from his battle with Pidgeotto earlier, he fainted.

"Darn it! Just two Pokemon left..." answered Jake as he recalled his Raticate.

He decided to send out his Oddish this time, like he had planned earlier before Diglett interrupted him.

"Go, Oddish!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oddish!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

This time, Jake had a type advantage.

"Alright then...use Absorb!" demanded Jake.

Jake's Oddish did so, absorbing energy from Diglett...in this case, it was a pretty significant amount.

"Diglett!" bellowed the mole Pokemon.

"Come on! You can fight it!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Diglett did decide to fight, and he began to growl at the enemy Oddish. Oddish immediately began to feel a bit nervous.

"Oddish..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Come on, you can fight! Try shooting acid or something..." answered Jake.

Jake's Oddish nodded, and squirted acid at Diglett in order to burn him.

"Diglett!" bellowed the ground Pokemon. This reminded him of the day he was out in the sun for too long.

"Use Absorb again!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Oddish did so, and Diglett fainted.

"Well, now to send out my Butterfree." answered Lucy as she recalled her Butterfree.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the butterfly Pokemon.

"And I'm at a type disadvantage again." thought Jake.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Lucy. "Anyways...use Confusion!"

Lucy's Butterfree did so, striking Jake's Oddish with a psychic attack. Unfortunately, Oddish was part poison-type, so she took extra damage.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"Um, use Acid I guess." ordered Jake.

Oddish did so, pelting Butterfree with the nasty goo.

"Um, use Confusion again?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, and just like that, Jake's Oddish fainted.

"Just one Pokemon left! We can still do this, Grimer!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Of course, Jake sent out his Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the grime Pokemon. For some strange reason, it felt as if he hadn't battled in a long time. It was nice to finally get some exercise again.

"Use Sludge!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer pelted Butterfree with sludge.

"Oh no! Use Confusion!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Butterfree did so, striking Grimer with yet another confusion attack. Why did so many of Jake's Pokemon have to be weak against psychic types?

"I'd probably use Mud-Slap right about now...but since Butterfree is immune to ground-type attacks...toss another round of Sludge!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer once again slung toxic goo, causing Butterfree to collapse to the floor.

"Well, now it's just one on one." answered Lucy.

Immediately, she sent out her Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

"Um, use Mud-Slap now?" inquired Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, slinging mud into Clefairy's eyes.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon.

"Use Pound!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so, but unfortunately she missed.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's starter Pokemon.

"Now use Sludge again!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, hurling sludge at Clefairy. At this point, she was feeling rather weak.

However, she managed to rub the mud and sludge out of her eyes.

"Use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and shot Jake's Grimer with a destructive blast of psychic energy.

Jake's Grimer fainted.

Jake was rather surprised to see the very least. Lucy had actually managed to defeat him this time.

"Er, well done?" answered the Team Rocket Grunt as he recalled his Grimer.

"Thank you! Let's go heal our Pokemon and get our third gym badges!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Sure, why not. At least my Rattata managed to evolve..." answered Jake.

And so Jake and Lucy went to heal up their Pokemon so that they could both challenge Lt. Surge.

_So, what did you think? I know that this chapter was a bit more action-based than usual...but at least Jerry got what he deserved..._

_So, do you want him to come back? Or do you think he's been in this story long enough? You can let me know if you want..._

_In the next chapter, Ned is going to try to battle Lt. Surge...hopefully he'll be a little nicer than he was before._

_Goodbye!_


	22. Chapter 22: A Shocking Victory

A Typical Pokemon Journey

In this chapter, our heroes are going to be battling Lt. Surge (except for Chris, since she already defeated him, of course) and will be getting their third badges...

Yes, this includes Ned, even though he lost against him earlier...isn't that just fine?

**Chapter** **22**: **A** **Shocking Victory**

Lucy and Jake stood outside the Vermillion Gym, ready to challenge Lt. Surge and win the Thunder Badge.

"Ladies first?" inquired Jake.

"I think you should go first, actually." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Sure..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake stepped into the Vermillion Gym. Oddly enough, the gym leader seemed rather upset about something...

"Er, what's the matter?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I lost horribly against a rookie Pokemon trainer..." answered Lt. Surge.

"Really?" asked Jake.

"Yeah...she used one of my own rules against me..." noted the lieutenant.

Curious, the Team Rocket Grunt decided to give the rules a read.

"There sure are a lot of them." noted Jake.

"You got a problem with that?!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

The Team Rocket Grunt raised an eyebrow.

"Are all these rules really neccessary? You said yourself that one of the trainers used them against you..." inquired Jake.

"Hmm..." thought Lt. Surge. The thought had actually never occurred to him.

"Whatever! You're here to challenge me, aren't you! Get ready to be crushed!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

"We'll see about that..." answered Jake.

Lt. Surge sent out his Pikachu.

"Zap this boy's Pokemon into the ground!" demanded the lieutenant.

"Pika pi!" answered Lt. Surge's Pikachu.

"Funny, I heard that this Pokemon is insanely popular...I could never really understand why." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Let's see now...I know that I shouldn't send out my Squirtle...I know! I'll send out my Oddish!" he exclaimed.

Sure enough, Jake sent out his Oddish.

"Odd!" exclaimed the plant pokemon.

"You're sending a vegetable to defeat me? Don't make me laugh!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"You do realize that grass Pokemon can resist electricity, am I right?" inquired Jake.

"Um..." answered the lieutenant.

"Anyways, now where we? Ah yes...why don't you try shooting Acid!" the Team Rocket Grunt exclaimed.

Jake's Oddish did so, spewing acid at Pikachu and causing burns.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"You're tougher than that! Hit him with Thundershock!" bellowed the gym leader.

"Odd?" inquired the plant Pokemon.

"My Oddish is a girl." answered Jake.

Lt. Surge sweatdropped.

"Alright then...hit her with Shock Wave!" answered the lieutenant.

Lt. Surge's Pikachu hit Oddish with a surge of electricity...but she wasn't hurt too much.

"Oddish?" inquired the plant pokemon.

"Hmm...seems he didn't heed my warning." noted Jake.

"Oh c'mon! You can do better than that!" answered Lt. Surge.

"Pika pi?" inquired the mouse Pokemon. He had hit Oddish with as much electricity as he could muster.

"Right then...why don't you try draining his energy?" inquired Jake.

Jake's Oddish did so, causing Pikachu to start to feel weak.

"Pika pi..." murmured the mouse Pokemon.

"Oddish!" cheered the grass Pokemon. Apparently, all the damage Pikachu had caused with his Thundershock had now been undone.

"Don't tell me you're losing to this...radish! Hit her with Quick Attack!" bellowed the nasty gym leader.

Pikachu did so, striking Oddish with a rather rapid attack.

"You OK, Oddish?" inquired Jake.

Oddish nodded.

"Guess you won't need to use Absorb again this time...so instead...keep using Acid!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Oddish did so, shooting acid at Pikachu once again. This time, Lt. Surge's Pikachu fainted.

"What? This is just embarrasing! I thought I raised you better than this!" exclaimed the gym leader.

Lt. Surge sighed.

"Well, guess I'm going to have to send out Voltorb now." answered the lieutenant as he recalled the mouse Pokemon.

"Voltorb!" bellowed the Pokemon with an uncanny resemblance to a Pokeball as he was sent out.

"Strange, for a moment there I thought you sent out another Pokeball..." questioned Jake.

"Why the heck would I send out another Pokeball?!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Maybe there's strange Pokeballs out there that can actually capture other Pokeballs...and can fly around on their own to make catching Pokemon easier..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Don't be silly! That's just ridiculous!" bellowed the lieutenant.

"Eh, maybe you're right." acknowledged Jake.

"Sheesh...who would even design those anyway? Some crazy Pokemon that wants to see the world burn?" thought the Gym Leader to himself.

"Voltorb, use Shock Wave!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Voltorb did so, striking Oddish with electricity...but as before it didn't hurt her too much.

"Oddish?" inquired the plant Pokemon.

"You just repeated your previous mistake." noted Jake.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Sheesh, I'm starting to wonder if his ego is working towards a disadvantage..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

However, Oddish was starting to feel rather tired.

"Er, try using Absorb again..." answered Jake.

The grass Pokemon did so, damaging Voltorb and healing some of her energies.

"Try using...Sonicboom!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Voltorb did so, striking Oddish with a blast of sonic waves.

"Oh dear, that attack might be a problem...use Acid again!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Oddish pelted Voltorb with acid.

"Use Sonicboom...again!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Voltorb nodded, and Oddish fainted.

"Well, you did pretty well...good job." answered Jake as he recalled his Oddish.

"Oddish." answered the odd Pokemon.

"Let's see now...I know that I shouldn't use my Squirtle...since she's a water type...nor should I use my Zubat...since he's a flying type...I know! I'll use my Mankey!" exclaimed Jake.

"Is he a man?" inquired Lt. Surge.

"Well, he is called a Mankey...so I bet he is." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"He better be." answered the lieutenant.

"Right..." nodded Jake.

Immediately, he flung Mankey's Pokeball.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon.

"Why is he wearing a hat?" asked the gym leader.

"Long story..." answered Jake.

"Whatever! Voltorb, use Shock Wave!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Voltorb immediately struck Mankey with lightning...immediately he got very angry.

"Mankey!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon.

"Use Karate Chop!" demanded Jake.

Jake's Mankey immediately chopped into Voltorb as hard as he could...which was enough to make Voltorb faint.

"Voltorb..." murmured the orb Pokemon.

"Oh c'mon! Now I'm going to have to send out my Raichu..." answered Lt. Surge.

"Your Raichu?" inquired Jake.

"Yeah! He's going to mop the floor with you and your loser Pokemon!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

"You really think my Pokemon are losers after the fact they defeated two of your Pokemon?" inquired Jake.

"Whatever!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Pulling out a Pokeball, he sent out his Raichu.

"Raichu!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon.

"Hahaha! I suggest that you surrender!" bellowed the lieutenant.

"But if I do that, I won't be able to get the Thunder Badge..." answered Jake.

"True..." nodded the lieutenant.

"Alright then. Mankey, use Fury Swipes!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Mankey did so, clawing into Raichu several different times and leaving scratch marks.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"C'mon! Just zap him already!" commanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did so, striking Mankey with a powerful surge of electricity.

"Mankey!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

"Yikes...his Raichu is pretty tough..." noted Jake.

Immediately, Mankey began to pant heavily.

"And my Mankey can't take much more of this..." continued the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Mankey..." murmured the monkey Pokemon.

"Hang in there!" ordered Jake.

Mankey nodded.

"Alright then...use Karate Chop again!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Mankey did so, chopping into Lt. Surge's Raichu and doing a significant amount of damage.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"You're a million times better than this primate! Finish him with Mega Punch!" demanded the lieutenant.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did so, punching into Mankey as hard as he could. This inevitably resulted in him fainting.

"Well, now it's one-on-one." noted Jake.

"Darn right! Prepare to meet your maker!" answered Lt. Surge.

"You can tell him that I said hi. Go, Grimer!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt as he sent out his last Pokemon for the match.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon.

"You're sending sludge to fight me? It looks like you've reached the end of your rope!" answered Lt. Surge.

"That's what you think. Grimer, use Sludge!" demanded Jake.

Grimer did so, hurling sludge at Raichu.

"Raichu!" bellowed the big mouse Pokemon.

Sure enough, he ended up being poisoned.

"Rai..." murmured Lt. Surge's Raichu.

"What? You've been poisoned?! Darn it! Now I'm going to have to get an antidote..." noted Lt. Surge.

Raichu dropped his head sadly.

"Do you have one on you?" inquired Jake.

"As a matter of fact, I don't." he answered.

"Sorry to hear that then!" answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"I don't need your sympathy! Hit him with Shock Wave!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu once again attacked with a devastating surge of electricity...which knocked the breath right out of Grimer.

"Grimer!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

"Come on! You can pull through this! Use Mud-Slap!" demanded Jake.

Jake's Grimer did so, hurling sludge into Raichu.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Hit him with your Mega Punch!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did so...and boy, did his punch pack a whallop.

At this point, Grimer was almost fainted.

"Grimer..." murmured the poison Pokemon, who was feeling very weak.

But at that very moment, Lt. Surge's Raichu fainted.

"What?! No!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Sorry lieutenant, but it looks like you lost. Maybe next time you shouldn't be so cocky." pointed out the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Bah! You got lucky! I dare you to try rematching me next time! I'll wipe the floor with you!" he exclaimed.

Lt. Surge handed Jake the Thunder Badge despite the fact that he was so surprised that he had lost...along with a generous amount of prize money.

"To be honest, I'm not so sure that luck had everything to do with it..." noted Jake.

"Whatever! Just go already!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

"Fine! Your ego was beginning to annoy me anyway. Sheesh...Pokemon battling is just a sport...stop taking it so seriously..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt as he left.

"I guess being in the military warped his mind or something." thought Jake as he left the gym.

"Did you win?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I did...but Lt. Surge was so annoying...he was so full of himself." answered the now three-time gym victor.

"That doesn't sound too pleasant." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"After I defeated him, he said that I had gotten lucky and that if I ever try battling him again he'll sweep through my whole team." answered Jake.

"Wow..." nodded Lucy.

"I'm personally glad that you're a fair sport when it comes to Pokemon battling..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah...well, I guess it's my time to battle him. Wish me luck!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake gave Lucy the thumbs up as she entered the gym.

Sure enough, Lt. Surge had already healed his Pokemon and had gotten them back into shape. Apparently he knew a fair bit about military first aid.

"Oh, would you look at that? A little girl's come to challenge me! How pathetic!" exclaimed the gym leader.

"Sheesh...Jake wasn't kidding." noted Lucy.

"So, are you ready for your Pokemon to be sent to the Pokemon Center?!" Lt. Surge exclaimed.

"Hey! Treat my Pokemon with respect!" demanded the girl.

"Why should I? I bet that they can't even fight!" answered the lieutenant.

Lucy sighed.

"What's that? You don't believe me! Alright then, allow me to show you the immense power of my Pokemon! Go, Pikachu!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"Aww...look at how adorable it is!" exclaimed Lucy.

"What? It's not adorable! It's a weapon of mass destruction!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

"I still think it's adorable." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh really? Why don't you send out a Pokemon to battle it then!" answered the lieutenant.

"Um, sure..." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy decided to send out her Bulbasaur.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"Funny, the last challenger I faced also used a grass-type against me...but no matter! Get ready to be creamed!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

"Does this mean I'm going to get ice cream?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Ice cream is for babies! Pikachu, use Shock Wave!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge did so, but Bulbasaur did not take much damage.

"Bulbasaur?" inquired the plant Pokemon. That surge of electricity did not hurt nearly as much as she thought it would.

"Darn it! I made the same mistake twice..." he grumbled.

"You did?" inquired Lucy.

Lt. Surge continued to grumble to himself.

"Use Vine Whip!" commanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur immediately whipped into Pikachu, doing a significant amount of damage.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"Fight like a man! Use Quick Attack!" demanded the lieutenant.

Lt. Surge's Pikachu immediately rammed into Bulbasaur with lightning speed.

"Bulba!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"I can see why they call it Quick Attack..." noted Lucy.

"Darn right!" answered Lt. Surge.

"Bulbasaur, use Take Down!" demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur knocked Pikachu to the ground, causing him to faint instantly.

"Pika pika..." murmured the electric Pokemon.

"Wow..." answered Lucy.

Unfortunately, Bulbasaur ended up hurting herself in the process.

"Bulba!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Hmm...looks like you've learned Take Down..." noted Lucy.

Bulbasaur nodded.

"It's too bad that you hurt yourself using it..." acknowledged the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur nodded once again.

"My next Pokemon is going to pulverize you! Go, Voltorb!" bellowed the lieutenant.

Tossing his Pokeball, he sent out his Pokeball.

"Why did you send out another Pokeball to attack me?" inquired Lucy.

"That's not a Pokeball! It's a Pokemon, little girl!" yelled Lt. Surge.

"What?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Curious, Lucy noticed that for some strange reason, the "Pokeball" had eyes and a mouth.

"That's kind of unsettling..." murmured Lucy.

"Are you scared, little girl?!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

Lucy sighed.

"Just take it down, Bulbasaur." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Bulbasaur did so, slamming into Voltorb and doing a large amount of damage...but once again, she took damage.

"Bulba..." murmured the dinosaur Pokemon. All of a sudden, she was feeling rather weak. Apparently the fierce battling was starting to take its toll.

"Perfect! Finish her off with a Sonicboom!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Voltorb nodded, and hit Bulbasaur with a blast of sonic waves. She fainted.

"Bulba..." murmured the dinosaur Pokemon.

For some strange reason, Lucy thought that she should try sending out her Clefairy second for a change. Since Voltorb was very much like a Pokeball...and since her Clefairy was experienced with technology...why not?

"Go, Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clef?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. She was personally expecting her trainer to save her for last.

"Alright Clefairy...use Metronome!" demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Clefairy nodded, and started to shake her hands back and forth. Immediately, they started to glow.

All of a sudden, a crack began to appear in the ground...

"Voltorb!" exclaimed the orb Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Lt. Surge's Voltorb...it didn't notice the fissure until it was too late, and it fell straight in.

"No!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

By the time it had finally hit the bottom, Voltorb had already fainted.

"Grr! I will not lose!" exclaimed Lt. Surge as he recalled his Pokemon.

Oddly enough, the fissure began to mend itself shortly afterwards. Lucy found this to be quite fortunate, as she didn't look forward to the idea of having to pay for the damages that her Clefairy had caused.

Then again, she was pretty well off.

"Raichu, it's time for you to end this, once and for all!" exclaimed Lt. Surge as he sent out his Raichu.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Yikes...he sure looks tough..." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded in agreement...She had the feeling that she wouldn't be as lucky as she was against Voltorb.

After all, Fissure was horribly inaccurate.

"Keep using Metronome!" demanded her trainer.

Sure enough, Lucy's Clefairy began to wave her hands once more...and this time, she kicked mud in Raichu's eyes.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"What's this? It seems that you're trying to lower my Raichu's accuracy...too bad his Shock Wave technique always hits!" shouted Lt. Surge.

Lucy's Clefairy sighed. For some strange reason, it was always no use to try to avoid that particular attack.

Then again, the same applied to moves such as Swift and Aerial Ace. She didn't really understood how those moves worked.

"Raichu, use Shock Wave!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu nodded, and shot a huge surge of electricity at Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

To make a long story short...Clefairy got hit bad.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon, who was feeling rather exhausted.

"Do you have room for one more attack?" questioned Lucy.

Clefairy nodded. In fact, she decided to try something different.

Immediately, she slapped Raichu in the face...really hard.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Come on! All she did was slap you!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Hmm...maybe you should try that move while your opponent is sleeping...then again, I don't think you have any moves that can make your opponent fall asleep..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Pokemon.

"Finish her off with Mega Punch!" demanded the gym leader.

Raichu did so, causing Clefairy to collapse on the ground.

"Clefairy..." murmured the alien.

For some strange reason, Lucy got the feeling that she should try sending out her Diglett next.

"Well, here goes." answered the female Pokemon trainer as she moved her Clefairy out of the battlefield.

Immediately, she sent out her mole Pokemon.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon. Apparently he was looking forward to getting to participate in his first gym battle.

"Raichu, use Shock Wave!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did so, hitting Diglett with an immense surge of electricity...

...but for some strange reason, he didn't feel a thing.

"Diglett?" inquired the mole Pokemon.

"Hmm...looks like my Diglett is immune to your electric attacks..." answered Lucy.

"What?! No!" exclaimed Lt. Surge. All of a sudden, he got the feeling that he was in very big trouble.

"Use Magnitude!" demanded Lucy.

Lucy's Diglett did so, shaking the earth and doing immense damage to Raichu.

"Raichu!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon. Apparently, he wasn't nearly as good at defending himself than he was at attacking.

"Great job, Diglett! You can do this!" cheered his owner.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon. It was good to see that his first gym battle was going very well. Then again, he was a ground type.

"Raichu, use Mega Punch! Don't fail me now!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did so, swinging his fist at Diglett...

...but he dug underground, and the attack missed.

"Aargh!" the gym leader bellowed.

"Use Magnitude again!" demanded Lucy.

Lucy did so...Raichu immediately was knocked off his feet...

...and in just a few seconds, he was KOed by the tremors.

Realizing what had happened, Lt. Surge did not take his loss well.

"Impossible! I can't be defeated by a little girl! How could this possibly happen?!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

"Is something the matter?" questioned Lucy.

Immediately, he began to cry like a baby.

"Wah! Boohoo!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

Lucy generously offered Lt. Surge some tissues while her Diglett eagerly took the Thunder Badge and handed it to his trainer.

"I think we should leave him be...he seems really upset about something..." noted Lucy.

Lucy's Diglett nodded as the duo left the building.

"So, did you win?" inquired Jake.

"Yes, I did...though oddly enough it wasn't because of my Clefairy...not for lack of trying though...you should have seen the fissure that she made!" exclaimed Lucy.

"It's too bad that all these gym battles aren't televized like the ones in the Indigo Conference..." noted Jake.

"Yes, I know..." answered Lucy. "My Diglett did awesome!"

"Really? And to think that this was his first gym battle..." noted Jake.

"Uh-huh! Now let's head to Celadon City!" exclaimed Lucy.

The Team Rocket Grunt gasped in astonishment.

"Did you just say...Celadon City?!" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yes I did, why do you ask?" asked Lucy.

Knowing that was where the Team Rocket Headquarters was located, Jake obviously wasn't looking forward to Lucy going there.

"Er, don't you want to head somewhere else? There's a lot of sightseeing we can do in Kanto, you know!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"But Celadon City is the closest..." answered Lucy.

Jake sighed. There was no way to explain the situation to her without blowing his cover.

"Fine...I guess we can go to Celadon City...but can we not stay there for long?" he inquired.

"Sure, why not! I think that defeating the next gym leader won't be too much of a hassle...we're getting so many Pokemon and all..." noted Lucy.

"Um, yeah..." answered Jake.

And so Jake reluctantly decided to go to Celadon City with Lucy.

Meanwhile...

Lt. Surge couldn't believe what had just happened over the last few gym battles he had. Not only had been defeated by his own rules, he had been defeated by a little girl.

"I'm the toughest Gym Leader around! How could I be defeated so easily?!" he exclaimed.

On the other hand, he did get to pulverize that nerd and his team of Pokemon...so at least he managed to score one victory.

Still, he began to wonder if he should stop being such a sore loser. Didn't one of the Pokemon trainers he lost against tell him that Pokemon battling was just a sport?

"Maybe I should start being a fair sport for a change..." he thought.

Oddly enough, his Raichu always seemed to take losing well...then again, he actually managed to win most of his fights.

Maybe he should start being more like him and start treating his opponents with respect.

Come to think of it, he had heard just recently that there was a rather nasty Pokemon trainer that had spent his time abusing his Magikarp simply because it had done poorly in combat...and that not too long ago he had also sent his Charmander and his Paras out against impossibly odds simply because he couldn't stand forfeiting.

He had even gotten banned from the S.S Anne of all things. Apparently, they weren't amused when his Magikarp evolved into a Gyarados and began to wreak havoc because of the mistreatment.

It was all in a copy of the New Vermillion Times.

Suddenly, he noticed that the newspaper also told about how a boy had tried to save his Magikarp from said Gyarados...and that it had evolved into a Gyarados to protect him.

Curious, he decided to take a closer look...and discovered that it was the same boy that he had taunted previously for not being a man.

"Hmm...maybe I was wrong about him..." he thought.

Maybe if he ever tried rematching him he could try not to be so cruel to him this time? It would take guts for him to face him again after what had happened earlier, after all.

"Maybe I have been too arrogant for my own good..." wondered the lieutenant.

On the other hand, he personally found it amusing that his partner was a better Pokemon trainer than he was despite being female.

Apparently, not all girls wanted to play with their Pokemon or wear dresses, it seemed.

"You know what? I'm going to try turning over a new leaf for a change...from now on, I'm going to be a better man!" he thought.

And so he decided to change the way he treated the Pokemon trainers that challenged him.

A few minutes later...

"So, do you think I'm ready to challenge Lt. Surge again?" inquired Ned.

"You tried to save your Magikarp from the most ferocious Pokemon in the history of ever, so yes." answered Chris.

Ned took a deep breath.

"Alright then, here it goes!" exclaimed Ned.

Immediately, he entered the gym.

Oddly enough, Lt. Surge seemed rather happy to see him.

"So, are you ready to challenge me again?" inquired the lieutenant.

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"Funny, I was expecting you to insult me about not being manly enough..." questioned the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Lt. Surge sighed.

"Let's just get our rematch over with, will you? I've got a schedule to keep here." answered the lieutenant.

"Right, of course!" answered Ned nervously.

Suddenly, his Gyarados popped out of his Pokeball.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the atrocious Pokemon.

Apparently, he had detected that there was a gym leader in his proximity...and he couldn't resist the urge to battle him.

"Er, are you sure you want to battle this guy? In case you haven't noticed, he's an electric-type gym leader...and since you're both a water and a flying type Pokemon..." noted Ned.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"What's this? You're going to battle him anyway? Well, don't say I didn't warn you though..." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Gyarados!" screeched the flying Pokemon.

"What? I'm not doubting you, I'm just saying that you should be careful about who you pick fights with!" answered Ned.

"Gyarados..." grumbled the enormous Pokemon.

"Sheesh...he sure has gotten a temper...I hope that he doesn't go on a rampage..." thought Ned.

Again, Lt. Surge began to regret not thinking Ned was a man...he was surprisingly capable of keeping his Gyarados under control.

"Alright then...Pikachu, let's ride." spoke Lt. Surge as he threw a Pokeball.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"Alright then...Gyarados, use Bite!" commanded Ned.

Gyarados did so, sinking his teeth into Pikachu. This must have a done a lot of damage, as Pikachu began to panic.

"Pika pi! Pika pika!" screamed the electric Pokemon. Why did he have to face an opponent so huge?

"C'mon! Pull yourself together! You're facing a water type for crying out loud!" demanded Lt. Surge.

"Pika pi..." murmured the electric Pokemon.

"Use Shock Wave!" demanded Lt. Surge.

Unfortunately for Pikachu, he seemed too nervous to actually attack.

Lt. Surge simply sighed. Ned began to wonder why he wasn't yelling at his Pokemon...

...then again, he had heard enough of that from Jerry already.

"Gyarados, use Tackle!" demanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Gyarados did so, pummeling into Pikachu, knocking him out instantly.

"Pika pika..." murmured Pikachu as he fainted.

"I'm really starting to eat my words earlier..." murmured Lt. Surge.

Recalling his Pikachu, Lt. Surge once again decided to send out his Voltorb.

"Go, Voltorb!" bellowed the lieutenant.

"Voltorb!" exclaimed the orb Pokemon.

Immediately, the Pokeball-like Pokemon saw Gyarados...and it immediately became very nervous.

"Voltorb..." murmured the orb Pokemon.

"Great...my Voltorb's frightened of that Gyarados too..." noted Lt. Surge.

Unfortunately, Voltorb was too nervous to attack at the moment, causing the lieutenant to sigh.

"Gyarados, use Thrash!" demanded Ned.

Gyarados did so, pummeling into Voltorb as hard as he could.

"Voltorb!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Fortunately for Lt. Surge, this actually caused Voltorb to decide to fight back, though by then he had taken a large amount of damage already.

"Use Sonicboom!" demanded the lieutenant.

Unfortunately for Lt. Surge, he forgot about Gyarados's severe type disadvantage.

Immediately, Gyarados was struck by the sonic wave...but this only seemed to make the atrocious Pokemon angrier if anything else.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the atrocious Pokemon.

As before, he thrashed into Voltorb, causing him to faint.

Lt. Surge gasped in shock. That Gyarados had actually managed to defeat two of his Pokemon in a row! Now all that was left was his Raichu...

Granted...his Raichu was rather powerful...but he got the feeling that he wouldn't be able to defeat three of Ned's Pokemon by himself at this point.

Nonetheless, he decided to keep fighting until the end...that's what a loyal soldier would do, after all.

"Go, Raichu!" bellowed the lieutenant.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the Pokemon.

Raichu immediately saw what his opponent was...and immediately became rather nervous. Nonetheless, he decided to fight anyway.

"Finally! Take down this Gyarados once and for all...before it wrecks my gym." noted Lt. Surge.

"You're not going to wreck his gym, are you?" inquired Ned.

"Gyarados..." murmured the atrocious Pokemon.

"You can try? I sure hope that you succeed then..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Gyarados pummeled into Raichu, doing a significant amount of damage.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

However, a few seconds later, Gyarados started to feel rather woozy.

"Gyarados..." murmured the atrocious Pokemon. Apparently that particular attack had sucked the energy out of him.

"Finally! Use Shock Wave!" commanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu hit Gyarados with a large blast of electricity, causing an extreme amount of damage.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"Gyarados, use Bite!" demanded Ned.

Ned's Gyarados tried to do so...but thanks to the confusion he hurt himself instead, and he was knocked out.

"Well, you did pretty well considering the fact that you had a type disadvantage." noted Ned as he recalled his Gyarados.

Ned decided to send out his Eevee this time.

"Watch out for his electric attacks this time." explained Ned.

Ned's Eevee nodded.

"Alright then...hit him with Swift!" demanded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Eevee did so, pummeling Raichu with several different stars.

"Raichu!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon.

"Raichu!" exclaimed Lt. Surge in astonishment.

Raichu was now feeling very exhausted.

"Rai..." murmured the orange mouse Pokemon.

"I'm on the ropes...who would have thought it?" thought Lt. Surge.

"Hit him with Shock Wave!" demanded the lieutenant.

Raichu did so, striking Eevee with a nasty surge of electricity...

...but this time, he endured.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

"Way to go, Eevee!" cheered Ned. "Now use Quick Attack!"

Immediately, Eevee began to charge towards Raichu.

"Use Mega Punch!" commanded Lt. Surge.

Lt. Surge's Raichu did, swinging his fist at the same time Eevee attacked him...

...which resulted in a double knockout.

"Did we just have a stalemate?" inquired Ned.

"Yes...but since you had one Pokemon left...it looks like I lose. Congratulations, you proved yourself to be a man!" cheered Lt. Surge.

"Funny, you seem a lot nicer now than when I battled you earlier..." noted Ned.

"I decided to mend my ways after hearing that story of that obnoxious Pokemon trainer that mistreated his Magikarp...well that and I was actually getting a bit tired of throwing a tantrum whenever I lost..." answered Lt. Surge.

"Yeah..." answered Ned.

"Congratulations, here is your Thunder Badge and your prize money...and to make it up to you, I'll be throwing in something extra." answered Lt. Surge.

"Is it a TM?" questioned the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Actually, it's this." spoke the lieutenant.

Immediately, he handed him a Pokeball.

"Is this a Pokemon?" questioned Ned.

"As a matter of fact, it is! Now you can have an electric Pokemon of your own!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"It wouldn't happen to be a Pikachu, now would it?" inquired the dorky Pokemon trainer.

Lt. Surge nodded.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Ned.

"Now go on ahead and tell your friend about it...she wiped the floor with me, so I'm sure she'll be happy to hear the news." noted Lt. Surge.

"Um...sure..." nodded the Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Chris was rather happy to see that he had gotten the badge, though she seemed a bit surprised.

"You actually defeated Lt. Surge? Awesome!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah...he also gave me a Pikachu..." answered Ned.

Sure enough, he decided to see his new Pokemon. According to the Pokedex, this one was male, much like Chris's Charmander.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"Huh, I wish I got a Pokemon when I defeated that guy..." noted Chris.

Suddenly, Ned recalled something about Pikachus that sounded rather relevant.

"Hey there...er, you wouldn't happen to not like being in a Pokeball, now would you? I heard that some Pikachus are claustrophobic..." asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Pika pi?" inquired the Pikachu.

"Never mind then." answered Ned.

Oddly enough, he also heard for some strange reason Pikachus also loved to eat tomatoes...and by extension they loved ketchup.

Maybe he could take his Pikachu to a restaurant later?

"So, are you ready to go on an adventure with me?" inquired Ned.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the Pikachu.

"Alright then...back into the Pokeball you go." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Ned immediately recalled his Pikachu back into the Pokeball.

"Funny...I heard that sometimes Professor Oak gives out Pikachu in the event that someone arrives late to his lab..." noted Chris.

"I'm never late to my dad's lab! He needs me!" answered Ned.

"Right...let's head to Celadon City now, OK?" answered the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

Ned nodded his head.

And so the two decided to head to Celadon City...though before they did that they would need to head to Lavender Town first due to how geography in Kanto worked.

Before you ask, the Pikachu that Lt. Surge gave Ned wasn't the same one that he used in battle...it was a Pikachu that was more fresh off the boats...if you get what I'm saying.

And yes, this particular Pikachu isn't claustrophobic, so Ned will be able to keep him in a Pokeblal...though like a certain other Pikachu he does love ketchup.

In the next chapter, our heroes will be heading to the Rock Tunnel...which in a few ways is Mt. Moon's spiritual successor.

Our heroes won't be encountering Clefairies there though...just a fighting type and a Pokemon that could give Gyarados a run for its money in sheer size...

And on a more sinister note...Lucy and Jake will also be heading towards Celadon City...I'm afraid things are going to get a bit more serious in this story once they arrive...I'm afraid.

But for now I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Have a good one! Peace!


	23. Chapter 23: Rocking Out

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes will be going through the Rock Tunnel so they can get to Lavender Town...and yes, our heroes will be catching a few more Pokemon...but in doing this they'll trigger BIll's PC...isn't that dandy._

_As such, in order to test out their new Pokemon...they're going to have to send another one of their Pokemon to Professor Oak's lab...since for some strange reason you can only have six Pokemon at a time in the world of Pokemon. Not like that's a big deal or anything...since we don't want a Pokemon battle to take forever._

**Chapter 23: Rocking Out**

According to their map, Rock Tunnel was located at Route 10...which itself was close to Cerulean City.

"Funny, didn't we have to go through a mountain to get to Cerulean City?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy, recalling their journey through Mt. Moon.

"I know...it's kind of weird..." nodded Jake.

Curiously enough, a Power Plant also appeared to be located on that particular route...though it had been abandoned for quite some time.

"I wonder why they decided to leave?" inquired Lucy.

"Maybe there was a meltdown or something?" answered Jake.

"Possibly..." noted Lucy.

However, according to the map, they would need to cross water in order to reach it...they decided it was best if they used a surfing Pokemon.

Once again, it appeared that they were going through a cave to get to another place.

"Good thing I have my Zubat...he has echolocation, right?" he noted.

"I believe so." noted Lucy.

"Go, Zubat!" exclaimed Jake.

Zubat happily exited his Pokeball, though admittedly he enjoyed how dark it was inside. Then again, the enviroment of a Pokeball was different for every Pokemon.

Curious, he decided to send him out to scan the cave with his supersonic abilities to see if he could find anything interesting.

"Do you see anything?" inquired Jake.

Zubat glared at him, causing the Team Rocket Grunt to sweatdrop.

"Whoops! Sorry if I offended you!" apologized the grunt, forgetting that Zubats did not have eyes.

"Er, did you pick up anything using echolocation?" questioned Jake.

Zubat nodded his head.

"There's a lot of Pokemon in this cave? Sheesh, it seems that there's no place in the world that doesn't have them..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Is that a bad thing?" inquired Lucy.

"Not really...I'm just surprised how numerous they are..." explained Jake.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy.

"I suppose that is rather surprising...then again there always seems to be Pokemon wherever we go" nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"What would the world of Pokemon be without them?" inquired Jake.

Sure enough, there was a Machop right in front of the cave's entrance...it was trying to lift a boulder...and was succeeding magnificiently.

"Wow, this Pokemon's really strong!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake gave the Machop a scan with his Pokedex to see just how strong that particular Pokemon could possibly be.

"Machop, the Superpower Pokemon. This Pokemon has the strength to lift one hundred adults." explained the Pokedex.

"That's a lot!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Do you think I should try to catch it? Then again I already have a Mankey..." noted Jake.

"He might enjoy having a sparring partner..." explained Lucy.

"Oh...well I'll get to it then." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

He decided to send out his Zubat...since he had a pretty large advantage against fighting types...and of course was already out of his Pokeball.

"Hey Zubat! Why don't you hit that Machop with a Wing Attack!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Zubat nodded, and struck the macho Pokemon with a buffet of his wings.

Of course, this made Machop really angry, and it started karate chopping Zubat.

However, this was only a mild annoyance to Zubat, who simply glared at Machop.

"So far so good! Now use Supersonic!" exclaimed Jake.

Zubat nodded and made Machop feel very, very dizzy...it tried to punch Zubat...but the wild Machop ended up punching itself instead, causing it to fall on the floor.

"Zubat, use Leech Life!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Zubat did so, leeching the life out of Machop...but unfortunately this did not do much damage.

Machop immediately kicked Zubat, though once again this did minimal damage.

"Zubat?" inquired the bat Pokemon. For some strange reason, Machop's attacks hardly hurt him at at all.

"Well, I guess now I should throw my Pokeball." noted Jake.

Tossing a Pokeball, Machop was sucked inside by a red light...

...but after a fierce struggle, it managed to break free.

"Gosh, Machops really are strong. I wonder if they could lift my mansion with one hand..." noted Lucy.

"I don't think you should give that a test run..." noted Jake.

"Probably not." nodded the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Well, I'm still not going down without a fight. Use another Wing Attack!" answered her partner.

Zubat did so, this time doing a critical hit. All of a sudden, Machop was feeling very weak.

"Alright, let's try this again...and this time I hope you'll stay in the Pokeball." answered Jake.

Jake once again threw a Pokeball...and this time, Machop was caught.

"Yes!" cheered Jake, satisfied to have caught his seventh Pokemon.

But a few seconds later, the Pokeball disappeared.

"Where did it go?!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy?" questioned her Clefairy.

"Maybe this is Bill's PC at work? I heard that this happens when you have more than six Pokemon..." questioned Jake.

"Oh right...you have a full party of Pokemon now, right? I guess you won't be able to hold anymore..." inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Jake nodded his head, though he personally wondered what it would be like to be able to use more than six Pokemon at a time.

Ultimately, he decided that his Pokemon would be much easier to carry around if he only had half a dozen at a time, and decided it was best not to dwell on it.

Fortunately for Lucy and Jake, there was a PC in the nearby Pokemon center nearby, where they could contact Bill and talk to him about Jake's seventh Pokemon.

"I suppose I should go check on my new Pokemon..." noted Jake.

Typing a few buttons on the computer, Professor Oak appeared on screen.

"Oh my gosh! It's the Kanto Pokemon professor!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy smiled, happy to see the famous Pokemon expert himself. Did he happen to know anything about Clefairies?

"Hi...I'm here to check on my latest Pokemon...he's in Bill's PC right?" inquired Jake.

"Hello there...er, funny you should mention that...according to the scanner, this particular Machop was a girl." answered Professor Oak.

"Really? She looked rather masculine to me...how do I tell them apart?" noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, female Machops tend to be more relaxed in their training than males...though they have roughly the same amount of strength nonetheless." explained Professor Oak.

"That's good to know..." noted Jake.

"Anyways, do you wish to swap a Pokemon in your party with another one?" questioned the professor.

Curious, he decided to send out his six Pokemon to see if anyone was willing to head to Professor Oak's lab.

"Grimer?" exclaimed Jake's Grimer.

"Hmm...I don't think I should send him...he's been my buddy for ages...and he might dig in Professor Oak's trash can..." noted Jake.

"Raticate?" inquired Jake's Raticate.

"Hmm...seeing though Professor Oak is loaded with cheese...Raticate might be interested..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt to himself.

"Mankey?" questioned Jake's Mankey.

"Funny, I actually have two Fighting-types now...now that I think of it...maybe you could try sparring with each other one day?" noted Jake.

"Zubat?" inquired Jake's Zubat curiously.

"Hmm...I'm not sure if Professor Oak has a habitat designed for nocturnal Pokemon..." questioned the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oddish?" questioned the grass Pokemon.

"Hmm...I'm pretty sure that he sure has a grassland habitat for Grass Pokemon like you...maybe you'll make a friend?" spoke Jake.

"Squirtle?" inquired the turtle Pokemon.

"Funny, doesn't he usually give out Pokemon like you to beginning Pokemon trainers?" questioned Jake.

"Well, in case one of your Pokemon is interested...I just got a fresh banana shipment..." answered Professor Oak.

Suddenly, Mankey began to jump up and down. Apparently, this had set him off.

"What? You want to head to Professor Oak's Lab? Well, goodbye for now then." answered Jake.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the monkey Pokemon in response.

"Farewell, friend! I hope to see you soon!" spoke the Team Rocket Grunt as he pressed a few buttons on the PC.

Pretty soon, Mankey and his Pokeball were enveloped by a bright light, and the pig monkey Pokemon was sent to Professor Oak.

He actually appeared on the computer screen, oddly enough.

"Er, hi there...er, how are you doing today?" inquired the professor.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the pig monkey Pokemon.

"Er, here's your banana..." answered Professor Oak, handing Mankey a banana.

Mankey looked rather happy.

"Er, why are you wearing a hat?" inquired Oak, who began to scratch his head. Who would have thought that Pokemon would have a penchant for human headgear?

"It's a long story." answered Jake, recalling the day that his first Fighting-type had snatched his hat away from him.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you later then...hey, keep away from my laboratory equipment!" exclaimed the professor.

"Mankey?" inquired the pig monkey Pokemon, apparently not realizing what he was doing was wrong.

"You sure that Professor Oak will be safe with your Mankey?" questioned Lucy.

"I'm pretty sure he will be...I heard that a lot of Pokemon have been sent to him before." answered Jake.

"Oh, that's right..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

A few minutes later, Jake pressed a few more buttons, and Machop's Pokeball appeared in his hand.

"Remind me to give her a test run..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, should we head back into Rock Tunnel now? That's how we can get to Lavender Town..." explained Jake.

Lucy and her Clefairy nodded.

And so the two of them headed back into Rock Tunnel so that they could resume their journey to Lavender Town.

_Meanwhile..._

"Gosh, this tunnel is giving me the creeps..." answered Ned.

"C'mon, Ned, we've gone through a cave once before...remember Mt. Moon?" inquired Chris.

"Yes...it was terrifying." explained the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh please...all we had to deal with were a bunch of evil Pokemon trainers that really stank at their jobs..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"They captured most of the Pokemon in Mt. Moon!" exclaimed Ned.

"Yes, but we released them. I'm sure that we'll be able to handle them again if they we ever cross paths." explained Chris.

"I...sure hope so." nodded the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake.

"Hmm?" questioned Ned.

Shortly afterwards, they began to hear rumbling noises.

"That noise..." spoke Chris.

The ground continued to shake...until suddenly, an Onix emerged from the ground.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

Ned unsurprisingly screamed like a girl.

"Why do I keep screaming like that?" thought the boy.

Chris in contrast was rather fascinated by the rock Pokemon.

"Awesome! I am so catching this!" exclaimed Chris.

"Are you sure about that?" inquired Ned nervously.

"Of course I'm sure!" she answered.

Throwing a Pokeball, she decided to send out her Paras.

"Paras!" exclaimed the mushroom Pokemon.

Immediately, he saw the Onix he was facing, and he got nervous.

"You're a Grass-type! You should be fine." answered Chris.

"Paras!" answered the half-grass Pokemon.

"What? Oh, that's right...you're a Bug-type too...hmm..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, the wild Onix began to hurl some fairly large rocks at Paras.

"Paras!" exclaimed the mushroom Pokemon.

"That's gotta hurt..." noted Chris.

Paras nodded his head sadly.

"Well, you might as well retaliate. Use Stun Spore!" commanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Paras did so, and Onix was paralyzed.

Onix tried to attack once again...but this time it couldn't move.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Chris, tossing a Pokeball.

Unfortunately after a rather prolonged struggle, Onix managed to break free.

"Darn it! I almost had it!" she bellowed.

Unfortunately, Onix wasn't impeded by its paralysis this time...and it began to bind Paras.

"Paras!" bellowed the mushroom Pokemon.

"Let's try using this again, shall we?" thought the female Pokemon trainer to herself.

Fortunately, the Pokeball successfully captured Onix this time...saving Paras a lot of squeezing.

"Paras par!" cheered Paras.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.

However, Onix was sent to Professor Oak's laboratory.

"What?" inquired Chris.

"Whenever you get more than six Pokemon, they get sent away by Bill to Professor Oak's lab." explained Ned.

"Who came up with that?" questioned Chris.

"Bill...you know, the guy who invented the Pokemon storage system?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Oh yeah..." she nodded.

Much like Lucy and Jake did a few minutes prior, they decided to check on Professor Oak. For some strange reason, there was also a Mankey onscreen ravenously eating a banana and was wearing a hat.

"Oh hey there! Are you here to check on your Pokemon? I have to admit he was awfully big...I'm starting to wonder if my rock Pokemon preserve is large enough to contain him..." stated Professor Oak.

"So, he's a male then?" inquired Chris.

The professor nodded.

"Funny, I believe that your parents wanted you to receive a Pokemon from me...but you never showed up. Did you oversleep?" questioned Oak.

"No...I just found another Pokemon..." answered Chris.

"I see...was it a Pikachu?" inquired the professor.

"No, it was a Jigglypuff." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"So, do you wish to deposit a Pokemon so that you can test out your new Onix?" inquired Professor Oak.

"As a matter of fact I do...now then...which one..." she thought to herself.

Curious, she decided to send out all six of her Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Nope, you're staying with me." answered Chris.

"Spearow?" asked Chris's Spearow.

"I'm rather reluctant to part with you too." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Beedrill?" inquired Chris's Beedrill.

"Hmm...I'm not sure if Professor Oak has a Beedrill hive somewhere in his Pokemon preserve..." questioned Chris.

"Nidorino?" asked Chris' Nidorino.

"Hmm...I'm not sure if Ned's Nidorina will be happy to see you go." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Charmander?" questioned Chris's Charmander.

"Funny, doesn't Professor Oak give Pokemon like you away?" inquired Chris.

Charmander nodded...unfortunately, this was how he ended up in Jerry's clutches. He immediately started to have bad memories.

_"Hi there! I'm looking for a strong Pokemon so that I can crush my competition!" exclaimed Jerry._

_"Sure...we have Bulbasaurs, Charmanders,and Squirtles. Which would you prefer?" inquired Professor Oak._

_"I'll take the Charmander! That way I can roast grass-types!" exclaimed the youngster._

_"OK..." answered the professor. "Make sure to take good care of him."_

_"I will!" exclaimed Jerry._

_"Goodbye!" bellowed Oak._

_"Heh heh heh..." chuckled the youngster as he left the laboratory._

"Paras?" inquired the parasite Pokemon.

"I just got you...sheesh, I'm not really sure which Pokemon I should choose..." noted Chris.

Suddenly, Beedrill noticed on the TV screen that just a few feet away from Professor Oak was a rather large-looking pot of honey.

Immediately, she demanded that she be sent to Professor Oak's lab.

"Bee! Bee!" exclaimed Beedrill.

"Um, OK then..." answered Chris.

And so Chris sent away Beedrill to Professor Oak's lab. Thankfully, she wasn't interested in stinging him.

"So many trainers are sending Pokemon to my lab these days..." noted Professor Oak.

Pressing a few more buttons on the PC, Onix's Pokeball came out of the PC a few minutes later.

Recalling the rest of her Pokemon, the female Pokemon trainer stepped outside the Pokemon center to check out her enormous new friends.

"Onix?" inquired the rock snake Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

"Well, you sure are a big fella...heh heh." noted Chris.

For some strange reason, Onix always seemed to be far larger than the rest of the Pokemon in the Rock Tunnel...though the Machops were still able to dominate him in combat nonetheless.

"Maybe he could help escort us through the tunnel?" questioned Ned.

"Maybe..." answered Chris.

Oddly enough, Onix actually nodded...though apparently they would need to ride on his back.

"You sure this is safe?" asked Ned.

"How dangerous could it be?" inquried the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turned out, it was a rather bumpy ride.

"Aah!" screamed Ned.

However, Chris didn't find it to be so bad.

"Well, that made me a little dizzy...but it's nothing I can't handle." she noted.

Sure enough, they arrived at the exit of the cave.

"Do we have to do that again?" inquired Ned.

"Probably not." answered Chris.

"I sure hope that I can evolve my Spearow into a Fearow...maybe that way he would be able to fly us everywhere." she noted.

Sure enough, Lavender Town wasn't far from where they were standing, according to the nearby sign.

"Well, that's rather convenient." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

However, right when they were about to walk into the town, two Team Rocket Grunts jumped out of the bushes.

"Oh great...more of you guys." answered Chris.

Ned immediately began to sweat heavily.

"Hello there twerps. Remember us?" inquired Butch.

"Ah yes...your name was Mitch, wasn't it?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

Butch crossed his arms.

"My name is Butch!" he exclaimed.

"You do remember my name, right?" inquired Cassidy.

"Your name's C-Cassidy..." answered Ned.

"Thanks to Officer Jenny, we never actually got to battle each other last time...well, this time, she's not around to save you!" exclaim Butch.

"We're going to snatch your Pokemon and deliver them to our boss!" bellowed Cassidy.

"I'd like to see you try." answered Chris.

"Are you going to s-sing again?" questioned Ned.

Butch and Cassidy began to wonder what they should sing.

"We would...but we don't want Officer Jenny to catch us." answered Butch.

"Let's just cut to the chase!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"Sounds good to me." nodded Chris.

As before, Cassidy sent out Raticate while Butch sent out Primeape.

Immediately, Primeape Low Kicked Onix.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

Due to the fact that Onixes were very happy, this attack was very devastating. Thankfully, Onixes also had high defense...

"Go, Pikachu!" answered Ned, deciding to test out the Pokemon that Professor Oak had given him.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"Funny, didn't we encounter a twerp with a Pikachu not too long ago?" inquired Cassidy.

"What a coincidence..." acknowledged Butch.

"Raticate, use Hyper Fang!" commanded the female Team Rocket Grunt.

Raticate nodded, sinking his fangs into Pikachu.

"Pika!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon. Having all those teeth sunk into your face couldn't have been fun.

"Onix, use Rock Throw!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Onix did so...but unfortunately this did not do much damage to Primeape. In fact, this made him angry.

"Primeape!" bellowed the evolved Mankey.

"And here I thought Mankey were tempermental..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" demanded Ned.

Ned's Pikachu nodded, as he struck Raticate with a surge of electricity. Unfortunately, this wasn't nearly enough to take him down.

"Primeape, use Karate Chop!" commanded Butch.

Primeape nodded, and knocked Onix to the ground. Judging by the swirly eyes he now had, Onix had winded up fainting.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall..." noted Chris as she recalled her new Onix.

She decided that it would be best if she sent out another Pokemon that was better suited for the job.

"Go, Spearow!" exclaimed Chris.

Unfortunately, Ned wasn't doing much better at the moment.

"Raticate, use Crunch!" demanded Cassidy.

Raticate once again sank his fangs into Pikachu, causing him to faint. Oddly enough, Pikachu actually wasn't crunchy at all.

"At least Lt. Surge thinks I'm a man now...hopefully anyway." murmured Ned as he recalled his new Pikachu.

This time, Ned decided to send out his Nidorina. Hopefully she would do better than Pikachu did.

"Nidorina go!" bellowed Ned.

"Nidorina!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

"Spearow, use Aerial Ace!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Spearow immediately struck Primeape as fast as he could, causing a significant amount of damage.

"Primeape!" bellowed the ape Pokemon.

immediately, he started to feel a bit concerned.

"Oh c'mon! Just because you're up against a flying type doesn't mean that you're going to lose! Use Seismic Toss!" exclaimed Butch.

Primeape nodded, and hurled Spearow right into the sky...unfortunately, he wasn't able to stretch his wings in time and he fell to the ground hard.

"Spearow..." murmured the sparrow Pokemon.

Though he was still able to fight, Chris got the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer.

"Nidorina, use Double Kick!" demanded Ned.

Ned's Nidorina nodded, and kicked Raticate twice in rapid succession.

"Raticate!" exclaimed the rat Pokemon.

"Using a type advantage against my Raticate, huh? Too bad that's not going to work! Raticate, use Pursuit!"

Raticate nodded, and struck Nidorina swiftly and effectively.

"Nidorina..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

"Gee, these guys are really strong...I'm starting to get worried." murmured Ned.

"Use Fury Attack!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so, attacking Primeape rather furiously...ironically, this caused Primeape to get even angrier.

"Primeape!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

"Oh dear, he sure has gotten angry, hasn't he?" questioned Chris.

"Darn right! Finish him off!" commanded Butch.

Butch's Primeape did so, hitting Spearow with a nasty Karate Chop.

"Spearow..." murmured the sparrow Pokemon.

Chris recalled her Spearow...hoping that her next Pokemon would have better luck.

"Go, Charmander!" exclaimed Chris.

"Charmander!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Raticate's battle with Nidorina was having similar results.

"Nidorina, use Poison Sting!" commanded Ned.

Ned's Nidorina nodded and stung Raticate with her poison barbs...unfortunately, while this was able to poison him, Raticate was still standing.

"Raticate, hurry up and use Hyper Fang to take her down already! We've got a schedule to keep here!" demanded Cassidy.

"We do?" questioned Butch.

"Those Pokemon aren't going to steal themselves, you know. That's physically impossible." answered the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"OK..." nodded the male Team Rocket Grunt.

Raticate immediately sank his teeth into Nidorina, inducing fainting.

"Oh man..." murmured Ned. "I guess I'm going to have send out THAT pokemon..."

Cassidy raised an eyebrow.

"Gyarados, go!" exclaimed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the water Pokemon as he was sent out.

Immediately, his opponent began to feel rather nervous.

"He has a Gyarados?!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Primeape was trying to pummel Charmander in the ground.

"Use Ember!" demanded Chris.

Charmander nodded, and scorched Primeape with fire, inducing burning and thus reducing his attack power.

"Primeape..." murmured the monkey Pokemon.

However, aside from that, that didn't really do all that much.

"Primeape, use Seismic Toss!" commanded Butch.

Primeape once again tossed Charmander into the air, sending him crashing into the ground. It really hurt, and Charmander was having trouble getting to his feet.

"Charmander..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

"Give it up! You're never going to win!" exclaimed Butch.

"We'll see about that, Bobby." answered Chris.

"My name is Butch!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, Charmander began to glow.

"Huh, would you look at that, it looks like Charmander's evolving...wonder what it evolves into...maybe I should check my-" questioned Chris.

"Charmeleon!" exclaimed Chris's freshly evolved fire Pokemon.

Chris gave her new Charmeleon a scan.

"Charmeleon, the Flame Pokemon! It loves battling other Pokemon, and can release bluish-white flames when excited!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, it looks like you've gotten stronger...try using Ember again!" noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Charmeleon nodded, and this time shot out a much larger burst of fire that heavily damaged Primeape.

"Primeape!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

"What? How can I be losing?!" exclaimed Butch.

"Please, you're just a criminal that has way too much time on your hands. I suggest you surrender now because you're going to lose the fight. Heh heh." taunted Chris.

"Grr! This isn't over yet! Use Low Kick!" demanded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Primeape nodded and tried to kick Charmeleon to the ground, but he moved out of the way.

"Now then...use Scratch!" demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Charmeleon nodded and finished Primeape off, making him collapse on to the floor on a heap.

"I'll get you one day for this." threatened Butch as he recalled his Primeape.

"We'll see about that, Bob." answered Chris.

Butch began to pull on his hair.

As it turns out, Cassidy's luck was also about to run out as well.

"Can we talk about this?" inquired Cassidy.

"Well, maybe we could try settling things p-"

Ned was cut off when suddenly Gyarados began to thrash into Raticate, causing enormous amounts of damage.

"Raticate!" bellowed the rat Pokemon.

Apparently, he wasn't going to last much longer.

"U-use Pursuit!" demanded Cassidy.

Unfortunately for Cassidy, Raticate simply bounced off Gyarados.

Gyarados hit Raticate with Thrash once again, and he fainted on the spot.

"Now how are we going to steal your Pokemon?" wondered Cassidy as she recalled her Raticate.

"You're really got to stop being a thief..." murmured Ned as he recalled his ferocious Pokemon.

_A few minutes later..._

After receiving their prize money from them, Chris decided to taunt the duo due to the fact that they had lost.

"Some criminal organization you are! And yet people say that Team Rocket are a serious threat to Kanto..." murmured Chris.

Butch's face turned red.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you march over to Celadon City and enter our hideout then?! I'm sure that Giovanni will be happy to see you!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Maybe I will!" exclaimed Chris.

"Are you sure that we should tell her about our hideout?" inquired Cassidy.

"Anything that will teach that spoiled brat a lesson..." murmured Butch.

Cassidy and Butch ran away shortly afterwards.

"What's so scary about Giovanni anyway? So what if he's the one in charge of Team Rocket? Big deal." inquired Chris.

"Are you sure you want to battle him, Chris? I heard that he's a very strong Pokemon trainer..." noted Ned.

"You mean like his underlings?" answered the female Pokemon trainer sarcastically.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing." warned the male Pokemon trainer.

"Relax, I'm sure we'll be fine. Besides, we need to get to Celadon City so that we can get our fourth badges, now don't we?" inquired Chris.

"True..." nodded Ned.

"Let's go to the Team Rocket Hideout and put an end to Team Rocket and their shenanigans once and for all, shall we?" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

"OK...but don't say that I didn't warn you..." murmured her nerdy partner.

And so the two of them set out to disband Team Rocket for good.

_Well, it looks like Chris and Ned have set out to stop Team Rocket once and for all...but will they succeed?_

_Of course, Lucy and Jake are heading towards Celadon City as well...what do you think is going to happen when they arrive?_

_You'll find out more information in the next chapter...of A Typical Pokemon Journey!_

_Oh wait...you know the title of this story already...ah well. Have a good one! Peace!_


	24. Chapter 24: Crossdressing

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to start heading to Celadon City...since they don't have the Silph Scope yet there's not much that they can do in Lavender Town of course..._

_Of course, this is where Team Rocket have located their headquarters...it's only a matter of time before our heroes uncover it..._

_But for now they're going to have to face Erika...however, one of them is going to have trouble getting in..._

_Anyways, Our heroes are going to be facing Giovanni rather soon...I hope you're ready for it._

**Chapter 24: Crossdressing**

"So this is Lavender Town, huh? It looks rather spooky..." noted Lucy.

Clefairy immediately began to feel nervous.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon. Was this town haunted? Then again it didn't seem to be a ghost town in a figurative sense.

Jake nodded his head in agreement. He heard rumors that they were ghosts haunting the tower that was dedicated to deceased Pokemon...which for some strange reason was known simply as Pokemon Tower.

"Shouldn't it be known as the Haunted Tower or something? The Ectoplasmic Tower? The Terrifying Tower?" questioned Jake.

"I guess they wanted something simple..." answered Lucy.

"Maybe..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, they noticed a sign saying that the tower was full of ghosts...which included a deceased Marowak that was the mother of a Cubone.

"A deceased Marowak?" questioned Jake.

"That's horrible...I wonder what happened to her?" inquired Lucy.

"Something tragic, no doubt." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

Clefairy wondered if she would end up becoming a ghost Pokemon one day. Hopefully people wouldn't be terrifying of her. She didn't like the idea of scaring people.

On the other hand, it would be interesting to be able to fly without having to use a spaceship.

Wait, didn't she have wings on her back? Oh wait...she couldn't use those unless there was a full moon. Ah well.

Deciding to leave the city for the time being (since nothing important seemed to be happening there), Jake and Lucy decided to continue to Celadon City.

On the way there, they noticed a wild Vulpix.

"Huh?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Lucy decided to give the wild Vulpix a scan.

"Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon. Born with one tail at its birth, it begins to split into six as it ages." explains the Pokedex.

"So, it didn't always have six tails then?" inquired Lucy.

"Apparently not...why do Vulpix have so many tails anyway?" nodded Jake.

Clefairy personally wondered if they would be able to find a Fire Stone later so that Lucy would have a Ninetales.

Oddly enough, the Vulpix did not seem to notice that they were there.

"Maybe we should try to catch it?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"It's all yours." nodded Jake.

"Go, Kadabra!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psi Pokemon.

Finally noticing our two heroes, the Vulpix decided it was time to leave, and began to run away...

...but Kadabra put a stop to that, teleporting in front of the Vulpix.

"Vulpix!" exclaimed the fox Pokemon.

"Well, looks like I have it cornered...though personally I'm feeling a bit sorry for it now." noted Lucy.

"I guess this is how Pokemon catching works these days..." answered Jake.

"Use Confusion!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Kadabra nodded, and hit Vulpix with a psychic attack, causing it to feel fairly dizzy.

However, Vulpix was able to hit Kadabra with its firebreath...causing him to become burned.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"This isn't good..." noted Lucy.

Sure enough, Kadabra began to take damage from his burns.

"Can you hold on, Kadabra?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Kadabra nodded.

"Alright then...hit the Vulpix again!" exclaimed Lucy.

Once again, Vulpix found itself being hit by another blast of psi.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

However, it was still ready to fight.

"This Vulpix can take a beating, can it?" noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well, I heard that they typically have high special defense..." murmured Jake.

"What?" inquired Lucy.

"They can take a lot of punishment from special attacks." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, the wild Vulpix let out a ferocious roar, paralyzing Kadabra with fear.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psi Pokemon.

And to make matters worse, he dropped the spoon he was holding.

"That's not good!" exclaimed Lucy.

Vulpix then followed up by striking Kadabra with a Quick Attack, knocking him to the ground.

"Should I switch?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Maybe you could try using your Diglett?" suggested Jake.

Lucy nodded...since Fire Pokemon were weak against Ground-types, that would be an ideal choice.

"Kadabra, return!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer as she recalled her psychic Pokemon.

"Go, Diglett!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, Lucy's fastest Pokemon was sent out on the battlefield.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon.

However, he seemed rather uncomfortable around sunlight, much like Jake's Zubat was when he first met him.

"Maybe he should try burying underground so that the sunlight doesn't burn him..." noted Jake.

Clefairy nodded her head in agreement.

Lucy proposed this to Diglett, and he eagerly nodded, burying himself in dirt.

"Vulpix?" inquired the fox Pokemon. Where could he have possibly wandered off too?

"Now use Magnitude!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Diglett did so, striking Vulpix and doing heavy damage.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fox Pokemon.

At this point, Vulpix was having trouble staying on its feet.

"Pokeball, go!" exclaimed Lucy.

Sure enough, Vulpix was sucked inside the Pokeball. Of course, it didn't give up without a struggle.

But eventually, there was a ding.

"Yes!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

However, Vulpix's Pokeball disappeared shortly afterward...

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy.

"Looks like Bill's PC has struck again." answered Jake.

"Guess it's time for me to switch out Pokemon then..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Much like they did before at the Rock Tunnel, Lucy and Jake headed to the Pokemon Center.

"We need to consult Professor Oak again, right?" inquired Lucy.

"Apparently." nodded Jake.

Typing a few buttons on the PC, Professor Oak once again appeared on screen...or did he?

"Hi there! Professor Oak's on lunch break at the moment...my name's Tracey! Please to meet you!" explained his assistant.

"He's on lunch break, eh? Well tell him I said hi then..." inquired Jake.

Tracey nodded.

"I'm here for my Vulpix..." explained Lucy.

"Oh, alright then...which Pokemon would you like to swap out with?" he asked.

"Hmm..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Much like Jake and Chris before her, she decided to send out her six Pokemon to see who should go. This included her Clefairy, who once again detached herself from her backside.

"Clefairy?" inquired the fairy Pokemon.

"Nope, you're my best pal." explained Lucy.

"What about me?" inquired Jake.

"You're my best pal too!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"OK..." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Pidgeotto?" inquired Lucy's Pidgeotto.

"I'd had you for ages..." noted Lucy.

"Butterfree?" inquired Lucy's Butterfree.

"You sure have come a long way since you were still a Caterpie..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Kadabra?" questioned Lucy's Kadabra.

"Hmm...I wonder how high your IQ is..." questioned Lucy.

"Bulbasaur?" inquired Lucy's Bulbasaur.

"Professor Oak's always giving Pokemon like you out to Pokemon Trainers..." noted Lucy.

Bulbasaur nodded.

"Diglett?" asked Lucy's Diglett.

"I'm not sure if Professor Oak has a cave habitat somewhere in his lab..." questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Hmm...I suppose I'll pick Kadabra...maybe he could help Professor Oak with his research...he's so smart and all." noted Lucy.

Kadabra nodded his head in agreement.

Pressing a few buttons on the computer, Lucy's Kadabra was teleported away.

"See ya!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon. She got the feeling that she was going to miss Lucy's Kadabra...but at least now she would be able to make a new friend.

Lucy then pressed a few more buttons on the PC. Soon enough, Vulpix's Pokeball slid out.

"Say, you think your new Vulpix will be useful against Erika? She's a Grass-type Gym Leader you know..." answered Jake.

"Funny...I heard that Grass Pokemon have a lot of weaknesses...I actually kind of feel sorry for them..." noted Lucy.

"At least this gym battle won't be too hard...right?" inquired Jake.

"Right...let's head to Celadon City!" exclaimed the girl.

"Heh heh heh...yeah...let's head to...Celadon City." answered the Team Rocket Grunt nervously.

As they did so, Jake thought to himself what was going to happen once they got there.

"This isn't going to be good..." thought the Team Rocket Grunt.

_Meanwhile..._

As soon as Ned and Chris entered Lavender Town, the former began to feel very nervous.

"I heard that the tower here is h-haunted." murmured Ned.

"Don't be such a baby." answered Chris.

"But I d-don't like ghost Pokemon!" exclaimed the nerd.

"What makes you so sure there are ghosts in this tower? It's just a rumor you know." pointed out the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"That d-doesn't mean they are true..." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Relax...I'm pretty sure our Pokemon will be able to take care of them...assuming there are ghost Pokemon in that tower." explained Chris.

"Well, I heard that we'd need a special d-device in order to s-see their true forms..." stuttered Ned.

"Really?" inquired Chris.

"Yeah...I heard that the Silph Co made d-devices like those..." explained the geeky Pokemon trainer.

"OK..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"Anyways...l-let's get going to C-Celadon City, shall we?" inquired Ned.

"Right, of course." nodded Chris.

Sure enough, Celadon City wasn't far from Lavender Town...in fact, it was about one route away.

Ned let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, they noticed that there was a Growlithe lying out in the field.

"Say here's an idea? Why don't you try catching that Growlithe? I'm sure it's braver than you are." noted Chris.

Curious, Ned decided to give the Growlithe a scan with his Pokedex.

"Growlithe, the Puppy Pokemon. It is normally friendly, but it is also very territorial." explained the Pokedex.

Sure enough, as soon as the Growlithe saw them...he began to bark.

Ned began to laugh nervously.

"Heh heh heh...uh, hi there." explained the nerd.

The Growlithe continued to bark at Ned. Chris began to be annoyed.

"Just hurry up and catch it already, will you?" inquired Chris.

"Er, you want me to catch it?" asked Ned.

"Anything that will make you defeat the fourth Gym Leader quicker is welcome." answered the tomboy.

"Um...sure..." nodded the dorky Pokemon trainer.

Ned decided to send out his starter Pokemon for the battle.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" bellowed the rabbit Pokemon.

"Growl..." murmured the wild Growlithe.

Immediately, the wild Growlithe let out a ferocious roar. Ned let out a feminine scream.

Also, his glasses fell off.

"Aah! I can't see without my glasses!" exclaimed Ned, frantically searching for them.

"They're two feet in front of you." answered Chris.

"Oh." acknowledged the boy as he picked them up.

"Sheesh...maybe you should try wearing contacts." suggested the female Pokemon trainer.

"But my eyes are too sensitive..." answered Ned.

Chris sighed.

"Just hurry up and catch that Growlithe already...we've got a schedule to keep here, you know." she explained.

"Right...Eevee, use Bite!" demanded the nerd.

Ned's Eevee did so, sinking his teeth into Growlithe.

"Growlithe..." murmured the puppy Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Eevee, the wild Growlithe retaliated by using Ember.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

And to make matters worse, Eevee was burnt.

"I guess I'm going to have to take you to the Pokemon Center later..." noted Ned.

Suddenly, he remembered something important. Didn't he have a Rock-type on hand?

Curious, he decided to search his Pokeballs, and sure enough, he had a Geodude.

"Oh yeah, that's right...how could I have forgotten about that?" he thought.

Immediately, Ned recalled his Eevee.

"Back into the Pokeball you go." he said as he returned his Pokemon.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

"Geodude!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

Immediately, Growlithe began to feel nervous. How was he going to defeat a rock-type when he was a fire-type?

He decided it was best to try to scare Geodude away with another roar.

"Growlithe!" bellowed the puppy Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Growlithe, though Geodude seemed rather surprised, she did not run away.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

"Use Rock Throw!" commanded Ned.

Ned's Geodude did so, hurling rocks at Growlithe.

"Growlithe!" bellowed the Growlithe as he was pelted with the stones.

"That sure seemed effective..." noted Ned.

Growlithe immediately scorched Geodude with Ember...but that didn't do much harm.

"Geodude..." murmured the rock Pokemon. Thank goodness that she wasn't burned...though she personally wondered how a fire Pokemon would be able to do so since she was essentially made of stone.

"Use Rock Throw again!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Geodude once again hurled stones at Growlithe, this time scoring a critical hit. The puppy Pokemon began to pant for breath.

"Now your chance...make it snappy, will you? I want to challenge the fourth Gym Leader...and while I'm at it maybe go after Team Rocket..." answered Chris.

Ned tossed a Pokeball at Growlithe...and after a brief struggle, there was a ding.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ned.

However, the Pokeball Growlithe was captured in disappeared a short while later.

"And I've triggered Bill's PC..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"It was only a matter of time..." nodded Chris.

"Right...there wouldn't happen to be a PC in Celadon City, now would there?" inquired Ned.

"There's a Pokemon Center, isn't there?" asked the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"Oh..." acknowledged her partner.

Shrugging, Ned decided to follow Chris to Celadon City...which they arrived in just a few minutes.

"Sheesh...this city is huge..." noted Ned.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Chris.

"At least the Pokemon Center seems rather easy to find..." noted the nerd.

"Well yeah...every Pokemon trainer knows what they look like..." replied the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"Right..." acknowledged the boy.

Entering the Pokemon Center, Ned realized that he now had to decide which Pokemon he should send to Professor Oak's lab for safekeeping so that he could use his Growlithe.

Apparently, the Gym Leader in Celadon Gym was a grass-type leader...so in theory it would be a good idea to bring along a fire-type.

Then again, he also heard that grass-type Pokemon had several different weaknesses...so fire wasn't neccessarily the only choice he could use.

Nonetheless, he still decided it would be best to bring Growlithe along.

But which Pokemon should he send away?

"I guess I'll send out my Pokemon to decide which one should go..." noted Ned.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" thought Chris.

Sure enough, Ned sent out his six Pokemon.

"Eevee?" inquired Ned's Eevee.

"Hmm...you've been with me since the start of my Pokemon journey...I'm not sure why I would want to send you away..." noted Ned.

"Nidorina?" asked Ned's Nidorina.

"Hmm...I don't think my partner's Nidorino is going to be happy with me if I try sending you away..." noted Ned.

"Gyarados?" inquired Ned's Gyarados.

"How you can fit in the Pokemon Center I have no idea..." questioned the nerdy Pokemon trainer. "Then again, so could Chris's Onix..."

"Geodude?" inquired Ned's Geodude.

"Up until now I thought all Geodudes were...well dudes. But you proved me wrong." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Bellsprout attached herself to Ned's hand.

"I take it you don't want to leave me?" inquired Ned.

Bellsprout shook Ned's hand vigourously to make that clear.

"Alright then..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Pika pi?" inquired Ned's Pikachu.

"Hmm...I just got you..." noted Ned.

"PIka pika..." murmured the electric Pokemon.

Pressing a few buttons on the PC, Tracey appeared on screen.

"Is Professor Oak still away?" inquired Ned.

"He sure is...in the meantime I've been drawing pictures of some of the Pokemon that the Pokemon Trainers have sent to us...there's quite a few of them..." noted Tracey.

"This lab sure is spacious..." noted the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Well, when you discover new Pokemon as often as the professor does...it's helpful to keep increasing the size of your lab." explained the sketcher.

"I take it the Pokemon League is giving him funds?" inquired Ned.

"Yeah, basically." answered Tracey.

Realizing that Geodude would not do well against Erika (since she had a quadruple type disadvantage), Ned decided to send her to Professor Oak.

"See you later, Dudette." explained the nerd as he recalled his Geodude.

"Geodude!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

"Rock on!" spoke Ned.

"Was that pun intentional?" inquired Chris.

"I..guess." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Pressing a few more buttons, Growlithe's Pokeball came out of the PC.

Immediately, Ned decided to check out his new Pokemon.

"Hi there Growlithe..." murmured Ned.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed the puppy Pokemon.

Scanning the Fire-type, Ned discovered that he was male.

The nerdy Pokemon trainer petted his new Fire-Type, since he figured that he would enjoy that. He was correct, as Growlithe began to bark happily.

Ned decided to give the dog a bone for good measure...which he caught in his mouth.

"Alright then...let's challenge the gym leader, shall we?" inquired the boy.

Growlithe barked in agreement as the two stepped outside the Pokemon Center along with Chris.

"Well...you two sure bonded quickly..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned in agreement.

Sure enough, the Celadon City Gym wasn't too far from the Pokemon Center. Reading the sign, Chris and Ned discovered that apparently the gym leader was a nature-loving princess.

"Well duh! She's a grass-type user, isn't she?" inquired Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Chris and Ned both entered the gym, both eager for their fourth gym leader battle. However, Ned immediately noticed that there were girls inside the gym...and that immediately set him off.

"Hey there girls! You're as lovely as flowers!" exclaimed Ned.

Chris decided to send out a Pokemon to keep Ned from flirting with the girls...but the girls beat her to the punch.

"You're disgusting!" exclaimed one of the girls.

"Ugh!" bellowed one of the girls.

"Get out of here!" demanded yet another girl.

Pulling out a stamp, the girls imprinted the word "Banned" on his forehead, signifying that Ned was no longer allowed in the gym.

They then kicked him outside.

"OK..." murmured Chris.

"Hey there! Welcome to the Celadon City Gym!" exclaimed the girls.

"You don't like guys much, do you?" inquired the tomboy.

"Why do you ask?" asked one of the girls.

"I'm not exactly the most feminine girl in the world..." noted Chris.

The girls thought of this for a moment...but ultimately they shrugged.

"If you're looking for Erika, she's all the way over there..." explained one of the girls.

Chris wondered why Erika had so many fangirls...but she decided not to dwell on that. It was time to battle Erika.

Sure enough, she seemed happy that she had a challenger.

"Hi there...welcome to the Celadon City Gym...are you ready to challenge me?" asked Erika.

"Yes, I am." nodded Chris.

Sure enough, a referee appeared to give Chris a pep talk.

"Hi there! I suggest that you use Fire-types...or maybe Flying-types...or maybe even Bug Types!" exclaimed the referee.

Oddly enough, he seemed to be the only male in this gym.

"Where did all the guys go? Did the girls chase them off?" inquired Chris.

"For some strange reason none of my fangirls seem to like boys...I never understood why." answered Erika.

"Yeah...they just kicked out my partner because he flirted with them..." nodded the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"Oh..." acknowledged the gym leader.

"So, are you ready to battle?" inquired Chris.

Erika nodded.

"Go, Tangela!" exclaimed the grass-type Gym Leader.

"Tangela!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Curious, Chris decided to scan the Tangela with her Pokedex.

"Tangela, the Vine Pokemon. Its whole body is covered with vines that are similar to seaweed!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"That's interesting..." noted Chris.

She then recalled that Grass Pokemon are weak against Flying-Types.

"Looks like this is a job for Spearow...for now anyway." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Spearow!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

Erika began to feel nervous.

"Why do Grass Pokemon have so many weaknesses? Then again I heard that Rock-types have the same problem..." noted the female Gym Leader.

"Aerial Ace!" exclaimed Chris.

"Spearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

Chris's Spearow lunged towards Tangela, striking her down to the ground. This seemed fairly effective...but the vine Pokemon went back on her feet.

"Use Vine Whip!" commanded Erika.

Erika did so...but he didn't take much damage from it. He was a Flying-type after all.

"Hmm...I need to try a different tactic..." she thought.

"Use Fury Attack!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Spearow did so, attacking Tangela furiously. All of a sudden she was beginning to feel rather woozy.

"Use Constrict!" exclaimed Erika.

Suddenly, Erika's Tangela wrapped Spearow up in vines so that he couldn't move.

"Uh-oh...this isn't good..." thought Chris.

Unfortunately for Chris, Spearow simply wasn't able to free himself.

"Use Aerial Ace?" inquired the teenager.

Spearow tried to do so...but he was a little...tied up at the moment.

"Use Poison Powder!" exclaimed Erika.

Now that her opponent was tangled up in vines, Tangela seized the opportunity to poison her opponent.

"Spearow..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

"Oh dear...it looks as if my Spearow's participation in this battle is going to be short-lived..." noted Chris.

Suddenly, Spearow started glowing.

"Or maybe not." she continued.

Erika sighed. For some strange reason, Pokemon always seemed to evolve whenever they found themselves in a tight spot...such as in a gym battle like the one her opponent was having now.

But she ultimately decided that she should be a fair sport about it. She found it important to be polite to guests, and champs in the making were no exception.

"Congratulations...it looks like your Spearow's become a Fearow now..." noted Erika.

"Hmm?" inquired Chris.

"Fearow!" exclaimed Chris's Fearow.

"Huh, I guess you're right." noted the teenage Pokemon trainer.

Chris gave her new Pokemon a scan.

"Fearow, the Beak Pokemon. Thanks to its magnificent wings, it can fly for days on end!" explained the Pokedex.

"Wow...that's rather impressive." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Fearow smiled...before he had to flap his wings so very hard to stay in the air...but now he had the feeling that flying was going to be easy for him.

Of course, if he wanted to fly, he was going to have to break free from Tangela's grip first...which he was now able to do somewhat easily.

"Tangela!" exclaimed the vine Pokemon. It looked as if she was now in trouble.

"Use Aerial Ace!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Fearow did so...and Tangela fainted.

"Well, you sure have gotten powerful rather quickly." noted the teenager.

"Fearow!" bellowed Chris's bird Pokemon.

Erika sighed as she recalled her Tangela.

"I guess I'm just going to have to send out a stronger Pokemon..." noted the grass-type specialist.

"Go, Victreebel!"

"Victreebel!" bellowed the pitcher Pokemon.

As before, Chris decided it was time to scan a Pokemon.

"Victreebel, the Flycatcher Pokemon. It is said to live in jungles...though nobody has ever returned from there!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"OK...that sounds rather ominous." noted Chris.

"I know...Victreebel, use Acid!" exclaimed Erika.

Unsurprisingly, Fearow was pelted with acid...it wasn't a fun experience.

"Fearow..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

And at that particular moment, the poison that had been inflicted on him earlier began to kick in...and he fainted, collapsing on the ground in a heap.

"What goes up must come down...even Fearows apparently. Back into the Pokeball you go." noted Chris as she recalled her Fearow.

Immediately, she knew exactly which Pokemon she wanted to use against Erika.

"Charmeleon, go!" exclaimed Chris.

"Charmeleon?!" bellowed Erika in astonishment.

"Well, the referee told me that fire Pokemon were the way to go in this gym battle..." explained Chris.

"B-but it might burn down my garden!" exclaimed Erika.

"I never really understood why other girls loved gardens so much...but I suppose you make a good point. Should we take this outside?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yes! Yes!" bellowed the gym leader.

"OK..." nodded Chris.

_A few minutes later..._

"I can't believe it...I got kicked out of an official Pokemon gym...how am I going to enter the Pokemon League now?!" he exclaimed.

Suddenly, Erika and Chris stepped out of the gym along with Victreebel and Charmeleon. Well, in Victreebel's case, she hopped outside.

Once again, his urge to flirt with girls was set off.

"You are so beautiful! No wonder you're a grass-type specialist!" exclaimed Ned.

"Um...we're kind of in a middle of a Pokemon battle here..." explained Erika.

"Charmeleon!" exclaimed Chris's Charmeleon.

Suddenly, the chameleon Pokemon shot a stream of fire towards Ned's face.

"Aaugh!" exclaimed the boy as he ran away.

Fortunately, thanks to the magic of video games and anime, the only bad thing that happened to Ned was that his face was covered with ash.

"Well, that was a bit overkill...but just as well." replied Chris.

"Charmeleon!" cheered the fire Pokemon.

"You might want to keep your Charmeleon under control..." noted Erika.

"Yeah yeah yeah...use Ember!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Charmeleon immediately roasted Erika's Victreebel with Ember. Sure enough, Victreebel began to panic.

"Calm down! You can still do this!" commanded Erika.

Victreebel settled down...though she was still frightened of Chris's Charmeleon.

"Very good. Now then, use Stun Spore!" exclaimed Erika.

Erika's Victreebel did so, paralyzing Chris's unfortunate Charmeleon. Immediately, he began to glare at the pitcher Pokemon for doing so, causing Victreebel to become nervous.

Unfortunately, much to his frustration, being inflicted by Stun Spore meant that he couldn't attack at the moment.

"Charmeleon..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

"Follow up with Acid!" demanded Erika.

Much like Fearow before him, Charmeleon ended up being pelted with acid.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

However, he was free to attack this time.

"Use Ember!" demanded Chris.

Charmeleon once again roasted Victreebel with a flamethrower, causing her to collapse on the ground.

"My Charmeleon is so fierce..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Erika sighed and recalled her Victreebel into her Pokeball. It was time for her to send out Vileplume.

"Go, Vileplume!" exclaimed Erika.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the flower Pokemon.

"I've got a lot of Pokemon to scan with my Pokedex today..." noted Chris as she pulled out her Pokedex.

"Vileplume, the Flower Pokemon! Its head is heavy and is hard to hold up!" exclaimed the Pokedex.

Sure enough, Vileplume looked rather uncomfortable.

"If only it had a bigger body..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately, since Charmeleon was still paralyzed, Vileplume got the first strike.

"Use Acid!" demanded Erika.

Once again, Charmeleon found himself being dipped in acid.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

And once again, the paralysis prevented him from attacking, much to Chris's chagrin.

"Stupid Stun Spore..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

"Finish it with Giga Drain!" exclaimed Erika.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Vileplume drained Charmeleon's remaining energy...causing him to collapse on the spot. Unsurprisingly, he had swirls on his eyes.

"Why do Pokemon always have swirls in their eyes when they faint? I never understood that..." noted Chris as she recalled her Charmeleon.

"Well, it's time for me to send out my starter. Go, Jigglypuff!"

Sure enough, Chris tossed Jigglypuff's Pokeball.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

"Your starter Pokemon's a Jigglypuff?" inquired Erika, noting how her two earlier Pokemon were both fairly intimidating.

"It's a long story. Use Sing!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, making Vileplume fall asleep.

"Wake up!" demanded Erika.

Unfortunately, Erika's Vileplume was still in Slumberland.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Now use Pound!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff did so, pounding into Vileplume. Unfortunately for Erika, she still did not wake up.

"Oh dear..." noted Erika.

"Use Pound again!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff once again pummeled into Vileplume, this time scoring a critical hit.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

However, this was enough to wake Vileplume up.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Uh-oh..." thought Chris.

"Use Giga Drain!" commanded Erika.

Erika did so, and Jigglypuff ended up being hit pretty hard.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

Suddenly, she began to slap Vileplume in the face repeatedly.

"Maybe I should try doing that to Ned to keep him from flirting with girls...wait, you know Doubleslap now, right?" inquired Chris.

"Jiggly!" cheered the normal Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Vileplume managed to do some of the damage Jigglypuff had inflicted on her earlier.

"I guess we're going to have to try a different tactic though...use Rollout!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff rolled up into a ball...and well, started rolling towards Vileplume, knocking her to the ground.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon. Unfortunately, due to her heavy head, she was having a hard time getting back to her feet.

This gave Jigglypuff the opportunity to hit Vileplume with another Rollout...which was enough to make her faint.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

Erika sighed, realizing that she had lost.

"Return, Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Well, I sure made a salad out of your grass Pokemon..." noted Chris.

"I'm afraid so! Here is your badge." explained Erika as she handed her opponent a Rainbow Badge.

"Why a Rainbow Badge? Why not a Nature Badge or something?" inquired Chris.

"I considered that...but I figured that having a badge resembling a rainbow would be better..." explained the grass-type Gym Leader.

"Oh..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"Anyways, you're about halfway done with your quest to collect badges for the Pokemon League, am I correct?" asked Erika.

Chris nodded her head.

"Well you had better be careful...it's going to get harder from here..." explained the grass-type gym leader.

"Whatever you say..." answered the female Pokemon trainer, not taking Erika's warning seriously.

"I'll see you later." spoke Erika as she returned to her gym.

"Funny, I can't help but shake the feeling that I'm forgetting about something..." noted Chris.

Suddenly, Ned popped out of the bushes.

"What the-" she exclaimed.

"Jigglypuff?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Chris, you've got to help me!" exclaimed Ned.

"Help you with what?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"I got kicked out of Erika's Gym...so I can't challenge the gym leader!" bellowed the dorky Pokemon trainer.

"Oh yeah...how could I have forgotten that so fast?" inquired Chris.

"Can you help me dress me up like a girl so that the girls in the gym won't kick me out?" asked Ned.

Chris's response was to fall to the ground, laughing her head off.

"Hahahaha! You want me to dress you up as a girl? That's hilarious!" exclaimed Chris.

Ned sweatdropped.

"Er, are you capable of doing that?" asked the boy.

"Of course! Just as soon as I stop laughing...thought it's going to be a while! Hahahaha!" exclaimed the tomboy.

Ned sighed, wondering how helpful his partner was going to be.

About fifteen minutes later, Chris was ready to help him.

"Alright then...I know just what to do..." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Heading the the woman's clothing store, Chris helped Ned pick out a woman's wig, a red dress, and some red lipstick.

"I don't know why my parents keep taking me to clothing stores like these...they're so over-the-top feminine...they don't even sell black lipstick!" exclaimed Chris.

"Sorry to hear that?" inquired Ned.

A few minutes later...Ned looked just like a girl. Once again, his partner broke out into laughter. Ned's cheeks turned red. This was going to be rather embarrasing.

But at least he (she?) would be able to challenge the gym leader.

"I just hope that I can defeat her quickly..." thought Ned.

_Oh dear, it appears that in order to gain access to Erika's Gym he's going to have to dress up like a girl...why do the girls in that gym hate guys so much?_

_And yes, Chris is going to have a field day making fun of Ned for it...of course, she was the one that helped him dress up like a girl..._

_In the next chapter, our other three heroes are going to try battling Erika...whose going to win and whose going to lose? Take a wild guess..._


	25. Chapter 25: Flower Power

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Ned, Lucy, and Jake are going to square off against Erika so that they can get their fourth gym badges...whose going to win and whose going to lose? Let's find out..._

**Chapter 25: Flower Power**

Nina casually made his/her way inside the Celadon City Gym, trying to avoid drawing as much attention to him/herself as possible.

"Hi there!" exclaimed one of the girls. Fortunately, they did not recognize Ned at all.

"Er, hi!" answered Nina in as high-pitched a voice as he/she could muster. It was hard resisting flirting with the girls. For some strange reason, each of them had a different hair color...one was a redhead, one was a blonde, and one was a brunette.

"It's nice to see that there are female Pokemon trainers paying this gym a visit..." noted the blonde girl.

"It...sure is! Heh heh!" exclaimed Nina.

"Unfortunately, just a few minutes ago, a guy walked in and tried flirting with us...he was disgusting! I'm glad we threw him out!" yelled the redheaded girl.

"Yeah...good riddance! Heh heh heh!" bellowed the transvestite.

"Erika's waiting in her garden if you're looking to challenge the gym leader." the brunette girl explained.

"OK then!" nodded Nina.

Sure enough, Erika was waiting in her garden, awaiting another challenger.

"Uh hi there...er, nice garden you have here..." said the incognito boy...trying his/her hardest not to flirt with Erika and blow his/her cover.

"Thank you!" exclaimed the grass-type gym leader. It was always nice to receive a compliment from another girl...though there was something a bit off about this one.

"Would you mind if we had...a Pokemon battle?" inquired Nina.

"Sure, why not." nodded the grass-type specialist.

"Alright then...go, Eevee!" exclaimed Nina, sending out his/her starter Pokemon.

"Eevee?" inquired Nina's Eevee as he was released from his Pokeball. There was something rather different about his master today...or was it mistress?

"Go, Tangela!" exclaimed Erika.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon.

"Eevee, use Bite!" demanded the disguised nerd.

Eevee immediately chomped Tangela, causing her to panic and knocking her off her feet.

"Use Vine Whip!" commanded the grass-type specialist.

Tangela immediately began to whip Eevee, who began to grimace. Getting hit by those whips stung.

"Alright then...use Swift!" ordered Nina.

Nina's Eevee did so, striking Tangela with several different stars...there simply wasn't avoiding that attack.

"Tangela..." murmured the vine Pokemon. That rabbit Pokemon sure was strong.

"Use Mega Drain!" commanded Erika.

Erika's Tangela nodded as she began to absorb energy from Nina's unfortunate Eevee.

"Eevee!" bellowed Ned's unfortunate Eevee.

"Try using Bite again!" exclaimed the nerd in disguise.

Eevee nodded as he once again tried to chomp into Tangela...but this time, she was ready, and Eevee missed.

"Maybe I should have used Swift again...that move always hits." noted Nina.

"Yes...maybe you should have. Tangela, use Constrict!" nodded Erika.

Tangela nodded and began to constrict Eevee very tightly.

"Eevee!" bellowed Nina's unfortunate Eevee.

This was unfortunately too much for the rabbit Pokemon, and he fainted on the spot.

"This is off to a bad start..." noted the incognito nerd. Personally he wondered why he decided to send out his starter Pokemon first rather than save it for the last...but it didn't really matter.

"Maybe you should try sending out a Pokemon that has a type advantage..." said Erika.

"You're right...I know, I'll send out Growlithe!" exclaimed Nina.

Sure enough, the crossdressing nerd threw Growlithe's Pokeball.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed the puppy Pokemon.

Fortunately, thanks to his heightened sense of smell, he was able to recognize Ned underneath his girly disguise, and so he didn't start barking at him.

"Now let's see if we can turn this around...use Roar!" bellowed the crossdressing Pokemon trainer.

Growlithe nodded and roared at Tangela at the top of his lungs...this immediately paralyzed her with fear.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon. That puppy Pokemon was surprisingly scary...and somewhat fierce.

"Now use Ember!" commanded Nina.

Nina's Growlithe nodded and began to scorch the unfortunate Tangela...who passed out on the spot. Apparently the puppy Pokemon was simply too frightening to her.

"You did good, Tangela...though I would like it if you would a bit braver during our next Pokemon battle..." noted Erika as she recalled Tangela back into her Pokeball.

For her next Pokemon, she decided to send out Vileplume.

"Go, Vileplume!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Vileplume!" exclaimed the pedal Pokemon, ready to take the petal to the metal...or to the fire Pokemon, rather.

"Growlithe, use Ember!" demanded Nina.

Nina's Growlithe nodded as he scorched his opponent once more...and this time, Vileplume ended up being burned.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon. Personally she wished that she was fighting a water-type Pokemon instead of a fire-type at the moment.

But Erika wasn't the one to give up easily.

"Vileplume, use Sleep Powder!" exclaimed the grass-type gym leader.

Vileplume nodded as she began to pelt Growlithe with powder to make him fall asleep...

...but since he was a watchdog of sorts, he wasn't the type of Pokemon that would fall asleep easily, and he remained awake.

"This isn't good..." thought Erika.

"Use Roar!" commanded Nina.

Nina's Growlithe roared once again at the top of his lungs, causing Vileplume to fall off her feet.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Now follow up with Bite!" exclaimed Nina.

Growlithe nodded as he bit into Vileplume as hard as he could...which was surprisingly hard.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the grass and poison Pokemon. Growlithe was simply proving to be too difficult of an opponent.

"Use Mega Drain!" ordered Erika.

Erika's Vileplume nodded as she began to drain nutrients from the fire Pokemon...but due to type disadvantages (and the simple fact that Growlithes were typically full of energy), this didn't exactly do much.

"Growlithe?" inquired the fire Pokemon. Personally he was expecting that attack to be more...effective.

"Oh man..." thought Erika.

"Use another Ember!" demanded Nina.

Nina's Growlithe nodded as she once again roasted the enemy Vileplume, causing her to faint on the spot.

"Well, you've managed to turn things around." noted the grass-type specialist as she recalled her pedal Pokemon.

"What are you going to use for your last Pokemon?" inquired Nina curiously.

"A Victreebel, why do you ask?" asked Erika.

"Just wondering." answered Nina. Oddly enough she/he happened to have a Bellsprout.

Sure enough, Erika decided to send out said pitcher Pokemon to help her defeat Nina.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

"Well, my Growlithe already defeated two of your Pokemon...who says that he can't defeat all three?" inquired Nina.

"Don't get cocky." warned Erika.

"I won't, I won't." answered the crossdresser.

"Victreebel, use Acid!" commanded the botanist.

Victreebel nodded, and immediately Nina's Growlithe found himself being pelted with poison. Unfortunately, being a fire Pokemon did not protect him from poisonous attacks.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed Nina.

"Growlithe..." murmured the dog Pokemon. That Victreebel sure was strong.

Suddenly, he began to shoot a wheel of fire at the enemy grass Pokemon.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the grass Pokemon. Apparently this technique was more powerful than Growlithe's old Ember attack.

"Nice! I see that you're already learning new techniques..." noted Nina.

Growlithe nodded. Hopefully this would help him win...though personally he was starting to feel rather tired.

"Victreebel, use Poison Powder!" commanded Erika.

Erika's Victreebel nodded. All of a sudden, Growlithe began to feel very woozy.

"Growl...ithe..." murmured the fire-type.

"Uh-oh..." thought Nina.

"Growlithe, use Flame Wheel!"

Growlithe nodded, and Victreebel once again found herself being roasted...though this still wasn't enough to finish the job.

"Victreebel, use Acid!" exclaimed Erika.

Victreebel nodded, and Growlithe ultimately fainted from the acid as well as the simple fact that the poison gradually wore him down.

"Oh man..." thought Nina.

Immediately, she/he began to wonder what Pokemon he/she should use...he/she didn't really seem to have any Pokemon that would provide him with an advantage...

She/he could probably sent out his/her Gyarados...but Gyaradoses were water types, so that probably wouldn't be that helpful.

Just as he/she was about to make a decision, Nina's Bellsprout suddenly emerged from his/her Pokeball.

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed Nina's Bellsprout.

"Uh-oh..." murmured Nina. It looked like he/she was stuck with using Bellsprout whether she/he liked it or not.

"Bellsprout!" cheered the fly catcher Pokemon.

"What a coincidence...my Victreebel used to be a Bellsprout..." noted Erika.

"Really?" inquired Nina.

Curious, Nina decided to use his/her Pokedex to check to see Bellsprout's evolutionary line, sure enough, she would be able to evolve using a Leaf Stone once she became a Weepinbell.

"That's nice to know." answered the crossdresser.

"Anyways...Victreebel, use Acid!" exclaimed Erika.

Erika's Victreebel shot acid towards Bellsprout as her trainer commanded...but unfortunately, due to how small Bellsprout was, she was able to avoid it somewhat easily.

"Bellsprout!" cheered Nina's Bellsprout.

"Hmm...this Bellsprout is pretty strong for its species...well, either that or my Victreebel was really weakened from that battle with Growlithe.." noted Erika.

"Bellsprout, try using Wrap." suggested Nina.

Bellsprout immediately wrapped some vines around Victreebel, squeezing her tightly and causing the latter to screech.

"Victreebel, pull yourself together! Use Stun Spore!" demanded Erika.

Erika's Victreebell did as her master commanded...but as it turned out, due to the fact that Bellsprout was also a grass type, this wasn't particularly effective, and Bellsprout wasn't paralyzed.

"Bellsprout, keep squeezing!" exclaimed Nina.

Nina did so...all of a sudden, Victreebel began to feel very woozy.

"Don't give up! Victrebell, use Mega Drain!" exclaimed Erika.

Erika's Victreebel nodded...but due to a type disadvantage, this didn't hurt Bellsprout one bit.

Bellsprout kept on squeezing and squeezing Victreebel...until eventually...

...Erika's Victreebel was down for the count.

"Congratulations." answered Erika as she recalled her Victreebel.

"Thank you. Congratulations, Bellsprout! You actually defeated your final evolution!" exclaimed Nina.

Bellsprout immediately began to dance in celebration.

Suddenly, she began to put Nina's hand in her mouth like she had done before...and she wouldn't let go.

"Hey, let go!" exclaimed Nina.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that he/she wouldn't stop shaking...

...his/her wig fell off, revealing Ned, much to Erika's surprise.

"You-you're a boy?!" exclaimed the botanist.

Ned sighed.

"I guess I've been found out." answered the nerd.

"Why were you crossdressing?" asked Erika curiously.

"Well, you see, the girls in the gym wouldn't let me in because I flirted with them for a bit..." said Ned.

"Really? Maybe I should have a talk with them later...though in retrospect maybe you should try to control yourself a bit more." answered Erika.

"Well, usually my partner is the one to do that..." explained Ned.

"She wouldn't have been the girl that came in earlier, now would she? She was kind of agressive in her Pokemon training." noted the female Gym Leader.

"Yeah...I've been traveling with her ever since I accidentally broke her bike. Well, technically it was my Eevee that did so." answered the nerd.

"Well, regardless of what gender you are, I'm proud to give you this Rainbow Badge." said Erika, handing Ned his fourth badge as proof as his victory.

"So, I'm about halfway through the Pokemon League now?" inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"You should be...you have about four badges now, right? People usually consider me the fourth in the lineup." answered Erika.

"I should be about halfway there then." nodded Ned.

"Congratulations! Hopefully you'll be able to get through the other half...you should know how to deal with Gym Leaders by now." answered Erika.

"Type-trumping, right? Fire beats grass, water beats fire, grass beats water, am I corret?" inquired the nerd.

"Yes, you are absolutely correct... though a bit of strategy will do you a bit of good in the long run." explained the female Gym Leader.

Ned nodded his head as he left the Pokemon gym. Thankfully, the girls didn't cause him any more trouble. Apparently they were all shocked that he had managed to defeat the Gym Leader.

"Did you win?" asked Chris.

"Yes...finally, now I can stop dressing like a girl. I felt so weird..." said Ned.

"Bellsprout!" exclaimed Ned's grass Pokemon, happy over her victory and how impressed her trainer was with her.

"Your Bellsprout's really attached to you, isn't she?" noted Chris.

"Yes...yes she is." nodded the boy.

"Now let's head to the Rocket Hideout! It's got to be around here somewhere...at least that's what the rumors indicate." explained the tough Pokemon trainer.

"Wait, what?" he exclaimed.

"C'mon...everyone knows that Team Rocket are a bunch of wimps...we crushed the Team Rocket Grunts with ease." answered Chris.

"Well yeah...but I'm pretty sure that there's going to be a lot of them inside..." spoke Ned. Indeed, he had heard that Team Rocket hadn't limited themselves to Kanto...and that they even had branches in the Sevii Islands.

"It's nothing that we can't handle. Now let's get searching!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Can I change back into my labcoat first? Granted, this dress looks kind of nice of me...but I miss my old labcoat." inquired the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Fine..." answered the unfeminine Pokemon trainer. Personally she was hoping that he would remain dressed that way a little longer so that she could laugh at him a bit more...but all good things had to come to an end.

_Meanwhile..._

Jake was beginning to feel very nervous. Personally, he thought that it was only a matter of time before Lucy was going to get captured by Team Rocket so that they could make her parents an offer they simply couldn't refuse. Sure enough, there appeared to be a few of them in their immediate proximity.

Thankfully, none of them seemed to recognize her...though Jake personally thought it was only a matter of time before one of them did so.

"Isn't this city amazing? I heard that it's the biggest one in Kanto!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Oddly enough, this is actually where I live. What a coincidence, huh?" noted Jake.

"It is? Really?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...I guess it kind of slipped my mind when we went out adventuring...if you want you could visit my dad later..." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Really?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah...of course, if you also wanted to, you could head to the department store and do some shipping...they've got a large amount of Pokemon gear on sale." explained Jake.

"Really? Let's head there! I want to do some shopping!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Um, sure..." nodded Jake.

Sure enough, Lucy went to purchase some goods from the Celadon City Department Store. There were just so many of them available that she was having a hard time deciding.

"Hmm..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy curiously. Personally she was looking forward to getting some vitamins...she heard that they could be used to increase a Pokemon's stats...though personally she wasn't sure what that meant...though apparently they were meant to make a Pokemon stronger.

Personally she wondered if she should try increasing her speed...or maybe her attack? Maybe her defense? It seemed like there were several different possibilities...

Sure enough, Lucy had decided to buy a Carbos for Clefairy...she eagerly consumed it and found herself feeling a bit...faster.

"Clefairy!" cheered the fairy Pokemon.

"I heard that there's a Gym Leader here...hopefully these vitamins will come in handy...then again, they do cost a lot of money." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy." nodded Lucy's Clefairy.

Meanwhile, Jake noticed that there appeared to be a polluted lake nearby. He began to wonder who would dump so many foul chemicals in there. It certainly wasn't a place that he should try going swimming...what if he got mutated?

On the other hand, his Grimer was very eager to go swimming in there.

"Um...OK...have fun..." answered Jake.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's Grimer.

Immediately, Jake's Grimer leapt into the polluted lake.

"I don't think Lucy would approve of this...who insisted on polluting this lake, anyway? Some anti-enviromentalist?" inquired Jake.

Suddenly, Jake's Grimer noticed that he wasn't alone in the filthy lake. As it turned out, there were several other Grimers inside the lake as well.

"Well, how about that." said Jake.

There even seemed to be a Muk inside the lake as well. Curious, he decided to give the sludgy Pokemon a scan.

"Muk, the Sludge Pokemon. It smells so awful, it can cause fainting. Even its footprints contain poison." explained the Pokedex.

Interestingly enough, it appeared to evolve from his starter Pokemon...that would likely explain his similar appearance and its foul smell.

"Ugh..." murmured Jake. Smelling several Grimers at once was wreaking havoc on his nose.

Now that he thought of it, his Grimer smelled rather mild compared to most others of his race...maybe this was because he wasn't as interested in polluting the enviroment than most?

"Hmm..." he thought.

Eventually, Jake's Grimer stepped out of the pool...he was a bit larger than before. Apparently he had absorbed some of the sludge from it.

"So, did you have fun? You sure seemed to enjoy being in the company of other Grimers..." he asked.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon. Apparently, that was a yes.

"Well, alright then, because I can't stand the stench of that pool any longer. We need to get going." answered Jake.

"Grimer..." murmured the sludge Pokemon.

"I wonder what Lucy got at the department store..." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, Lucy came by with several vitamins for his Pokemon to consume.

"Uh, hey there...did you...enjoy shopping at the mall?" inquired Jake.

"Uh-huh! Personally I wonder why my parents haven't taken me here before..." noted Lucy.

"Er, yeah...Heh heh." answered the Team Rocket Grunt. Could it be that they were aware that Team Rocket was residing in this city? He really hoped that they would get going soon. The last thing he wanted was for Lucy to be captured by Giovanni.

"Anyways, shouldn't we visit your dad? I'm sure he'll be happy that you found a companion for your Pokemon journey." asked Lucy.

"Er, yeah." nodded Jake.

And so the duo went to visit Jake's father.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, thanks to a Team Rocket Grunt foolishly telling her not to remove a poster hanging on the wall (since there was most definitely not a secret switch behind that would surely not reveal a hidden staircase), Chris and Ned managed to track the criminals down to the Rocket Game Corner.

"Are y-ou sure about this? If s-something goes w-wrong...we c-could end up l-losing our P-Pokemon." stuttered Ned, whose face was rapidly turning pale.

"Lose our Pokemon? Oh please. Team Rocket is just a bunch of losers who would consider stealing candy from a baby to be the biggest crime ever." answered Chris.

"I s-till think their leader isn't someone to be t-trifled with...Butch implied that he was very strong." spoke the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Whatever. Wait, how did you remember his name anyway?" asked his partner curiously.

"Maybe I have a good memory...I don't know." answered Ned.

Sure enough, Chris lifted the poster to reveal a secret switch.

"Ha! What a filthy liar he was! Let's flip the switch, shall we?" asked the unfeminine Pokemon trainer.

"I'm h-having s-second thoughts about t-this." murmured the nerd.

"Oh c'mon! Don't you want to stop Team Rocket and show them what big losers they are?" inquired the aggressive Pokemon trainer.

"W-well, yeah, but-"

"Alright then! Let's go!" exclaimed Chris as she flipped the secret switch.

Sure enough, contrary to what the deceitful Team Rocket Grunt had said to them, a secret staircase did appear...it led to eerie darkness.

Curiously enough, nobody in the Game Corner seemed to notice that the duo had uncovered a secret passageway.. They all were busy playing at the casino at the like. Apparently Giovanni designed it to distract people.

Well either that, or he wanted to make more money for his criminal empire. Apparently he simply couldn't have enough. Ned personally began to wonder just how many Pokemon he and his thugs had stolen from Pokemon trainers. At this point he had probably stolen at least a hundred.

At that particular moment, Ned was about to scream in horror. Chris groaned and began to take Ned's hand. Why did he have to be such a big baby?

"We don't have all day, you know. The more we waste our time, the longer Team Rocket remains undefeated!" said the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"I...suppose." answered Ned.

And so the two of them went to investigate Team Rocket's Hideout.

Sure enough, it was rather dark and creepy. For some strange reason, it wasn't well-lit. Apparently Giovanni was trying to save on electricity bills.

"Sheesh, you'd think the Team Rocket Grunts would have more lights in their hideout. I'm starting to wonder how the Team Rocket Grunts even get around here. Then again, maybe they have a map..." noted Chris.

At that very moment, Ned began to cry.

"What? Do you need a tissue or something?" inquired Chris.

"I t-think I need s-something to h-hyperventilate with." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer. To say that he had a bad feeling about this would be an understatement.

Chris groaned as she reluctantly handed Ned a paper bag to breathe in.

"There...now quit complaining. We're going to find the leader of Team Rocket and take him out to the curb!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Are you now?" asked a nearby Team Rocket Grunt.

Sure enough, several Team Rocket Grunts appeared to stop them in their tracks. Apparently, they didn't like it whenever somebody infilitrated their hideout.

"Funny, we encountered a boy by the name of Ash Ketchum earlier today...he told us to stop what we were doing because it was evil. Doesn't he know that being evil is so much fun?" asked the Team Rocket Grunt. This particular one had a beard.

At that very moment, Ned began to panic. It was as if his worst nightmares had come true. Then again, most of his nightmares had involved Team Rocket somehow. They had quite a horrifying reputation...though admittedly most of the things he had heard were rumors.

"Personally, I wish that Jessie and James would hurry up and take his Pikachu already. How hard could it be to snag a little mouse?" noted another Team Rocket Grunt with a mustache.

"Yeah...they're the worst Grunts in the history of ever! I wish they could be more like Mitch and Cassidy...Lord Giovanni considers them to be the best." answered a muscular-looking Team Rocket Grunt.

"What about Domino? I heard that she's his ultimate fangirl. She even has a portrait of him in his room." explained a skinny Team Rocket Grunt.

"Anyways, where were we? Ah yes...I suggest that you give us your Pokemon before you get hurt." said an imposing-looking Team Rocket Grunt with a goatee.

"Can't we-we just give you s-some money? I just won against a Gym Leader so I'm kind of loaded..." asked Ned curiously. At this point, he was about to faint.

"Fair enough. We'll just take your wallet!" exclaimed a rather greedy Team Rocket Grunt, who was wearing shades.

On the other hand, Chris decided to stand her ground, not frightened by the Team Rocket Grunts in the slightest.

"I'll never surrender to you!" exclaimed the teen, sending out her Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon, ready to battle.

"Fine then...I guess we're just going to have to...persuade you." answered the Team Rocket Grunt with the goatee.

Immediately, the six Team Rocket Grunts sent out their Pokemon...which in their case were two Rattatas, a Drowzee, a Grimer, a Koffing, and an Ekans.

Immediately, she began to sing a song to make the opposing Pokemon fall asleep...unfortunately, the Drowzee managed to stay awake.

"Drowzee." said the dream-consuming Pokemon. Coincidentally, he had a similar technique to put Pokemon to sleep himself.

Curious, Chris scanned it with her Pokedex.

"Drowzee, the Hypnosis Pokemon. After putting its enemies to sleep, it then begins to feast on their dreams."

Since putting the hungry Pokemon to sleep didn't seem to be working, Chris instead instructed her Jigglypuff to slap it into submission with her hands...which she succeeded magnificiently. Pretty soon the Drowzee was down for the count.

The balloon Pokemon then went to work on the other less fortunate Pokemon that had fallen victim to her Sing...and pretty soon they fainted too.

"Mamamia..." murmured the muscular Team Rocket Grunt, who was apparently Italian. Then again, considering that Giovanni was an Italian name, maybe he was Italian himself.

"See? What did I tell you? They're all bark and no bite!" Chris said to Ned.

Ned let out a sigh of relief, though he personally thought that their problems weren't over yet.

Sure enough, one of the Team Rocket Grunts began to sound an alarm. Apparently he wanted some backup.

"Hutch! Cassidy! We need your help! We're getting pulverized out here!" bellowed said grunt at the top of his lungs.

Sure enough, the wicked duo arrived on the scene, ready to defend their master's stronghold from invasion.

"My name is Butch! If I had a nickel for every time someone forgot my name.." noted Butch.

"I know..." nodded Cassidy.

"Oh would you look at that...it's those two losers we trounced earlier...are you really the strongest Grunts Giovanni has? If so you are really disappointing." inquired Chris.

"We've already prided ourselves on being the best of his grunts...and the fact that Jessie and James are considered to be the worst of the lot..." answered Cassidy.

"Well, guess what? You're going to get whooped! Again!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Actually, you're going to have to deal with someone else entirely." answered a mysterious voice.

"What? Whose there? Another Team Rocket Grunt looking for a pounding?" taunted Chris.

"A Team Rocket Grunt? Surely you're mistaken...it is I, the leader of Team Rocket...Giovanni!" bellowed Giovanni himself.

Ned screamed (like a little girl, as always) and went to hide behind Chris.

"What? You're the leader of Team Rocket? Finally, now I can beat your Pokemon up and shut down your little organization once and for all!" she exclaimed.

Giovanni simply laughed.

"You're the one whose going to stop me? I'd like to see you try. But if you insist...I'll be dealing with you myself!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Boss.

"Wait, what?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunts curiously. Was Giovanni actually going to fight a Pokemon Trainer personally?

"Um, are you sure about this, boss?" asked Butch.

"Of course I am. She's been looking forward to it, hasn't she?" inquired Giovanni.

"Well, yes...but-" said Cassidy.

"Enough. I want you all to witness a display of my absolute power." said the head honcho as he pulled out a Pokeball.

Immediately, Chris recalled her Jigglypuff so that she could summon a different Pokemon. She in particular had one in mind.

"Let the battle...begin." spoke Giovanni as the two flung their Pokeballs.

_Well, things have gotten intense...Ned has managed to defeat Erika after some crossdressing...but guess what? Now Chris has decided to challenge Giovanni! Can she defeat him and stop Team Rocket once and for all? Is Ned right to be worried about storming into Team Rocket's hideout? And how will Lucy and Jake's meeting with the latter's father go?_

_Find out in the next chapter of A Typical Pokemon Journey...mind you, it's going to be suspenseful._


	26. Chapter 26: Break The Haughty

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to meet the latter's father...meanwhile, Chris is going to battle Giovanni...but it's not going to end well. I'm afraid things are going to start getting more intense from here..._

_We'll also get to see more about Jake's past...it's rather depressing, mind you. You might want to bring a tissue._

**Chapter 26: Break The Haughty**

Deciding to be polite, Jake knocked on the door.

"Mr. Kurosawa? We're here to visit you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Er, how did you know my last name?" asked the Team Rocket Grunt curiously.

"It said so in your ID." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh..." remembered the boy. Personally he began to wonder if he should leave it out...the other Team Rocket Grunts might recognize him.

The duo were answered with a very sad sigh.

"Come in..." answered Jake's father sadly.

"Your father seems rather depressed..." noted Lucy.

"He's been like that ever since my mother died..." explained the Team Rocket Grunt.

"What?!" exclaimed the girl as the two came in.

"Yes I know." spoke Jake.

Suffice to say, Jake's house appeared to be rather...rundown. Apparently Jake and his father weren't well-off like Lucy was.

"I'm sorry that your wife passed away." sympathized Lucy.

"It was inevitable, anyway...why delay it?" inquired Jake's father.

Lucy frowned. It appeared that losing his wife had made Jake's father rather pessimistic. How had she died anyway? Was it a horrible illness?

"It was nice of you to meet a friend...but guess what? She's probably going to leave you...just like Susan did..." answered Jake's father.

"Wow...I'm really starting to feel sorry for him." noted the wealthy Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...he keeps telling me that the world is a dark, cruel place...I'm personally starting to wonder if that's true." answered Jake.

"Well, you met your Grimer one day, didn't you?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes, I did..." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

After having heard how horrible the world of Pokemon was, Jake had decided to work for Team Rocket. After all, it was every man for himself in this world, right?

Then again, after meeting Lucy, he wasn't quite sure that his father's claims were so true.

"I'm sorry that your mother passed away..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she began to wonder if she should get a box of tissues.

"It's fine...I've actually come to terms with it...though personally I don't think my dad ever has." answered Jake.

Sure enough, his father seemed to be crying.

"I hope that he's going to be OK." noted Lucy.

"That's something I've been asking myself for years." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Why did you have to leave me? Why?!" exclaimed Jake's father, who was bawling.

"I think we should probably leave him alone now." answered Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy in agreement.

And so the two of them left the Kurosawa household. As they did so, Lucy began to blow on a tissue.

"I'm sorry that my father is making you cry...he really tends to do that people." answered Jake.

"I can see why..." answered Lucy.

Now that he thought of it, nobody really seemed to visit his father these days. Apparently they thought that he needed more time to recover. Personally Jake wondered if he should visit his mother's grave sometime.

"Should we postpone our Pokemon journey for a while? This is making me really upset...I didn't know that you were motherless..." noted Lucy.

"It's kind of a surprise for everyone." answerered Jake.

"I don't know what I would do if I ever lost my mother..." noted the girl.

"Yeah...I sure hope that you don't have to go what I went through. Anyways, I think we should keep going." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"If you say so..." agreed Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Apparently it was for the best. Jake's mother would have wanted him to continue to do so, after all.

_Meanwhile below the Rocket Hideout..._

"Onix, smite this pest!" bellowed Giovanni.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

Ned had to admit, the Rocket Hideout had to be rather spacious considering how large that particular rock Pokemon was...then again, Onixs tended to slither most of the time.

"You think your rock snake Pokemon is tough? My Fearow will make short work of him!" bellowed Chris.

"Um, Chris...you do realize that your Fearow has a type disadvantage, right?" inquired Ned.

"He does? Big deal! We all know how weak Team Rocket is..." answered the tomboy.

"But he's their leader! He can't have gotten the title for nothing!" bellowed the nerd.

"For being the king of wimps? Don't make me laugh." spoke Chris.

Giovanni smiled to himself. Clearly his opponent thought he was weak...and he was about to prove her wrong.

Despite Ned's protests, Chris sent out her Fearow anyway.

"Fearow, use Aerial Ace!" demanded Chris.

Chris's Fearow nodded as he struck into Onix...but that didn't hurt him very much. Giovanni smirked.

"You think your Fearow is powerful, do you? Let's put that to the test then. Onix, use Rock Throw!" commanded the leader of Team Rocket.

Onix did so...and all of a sudden, Fearow found himself being pelted with rocks.

"Fearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon. Already he was taking a beating.

"Um, Chris...I really think you should switch..." warned Ned.

"Don't tell me what to do! I've got this battle in the bag!" exclaimed Chris.

"Um, OK..." answered Ned, though personally he wondered if that was so true.

"Use Fury Attack!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Fearow did so...but even though he hit the Onix five different times in a row, this still did not do much damage. He was not liking his chances.

"Er, keep doing that?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, here's the Celadon City Gym...it's essentially one giant garden so I bet you're going to enjoy it." answered Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy, though personally she wondered if Jake's mother happened to have enjoyed flowers.

"The Gym Leader's a grass-type specialist...is your Vulpix ready?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah, I think so." nodded Lucy.

"Then walk right in then..." answered Jake.

The female Pokemon trainer nodded, eager to gain her fourth gym badge.

Immediately, she was welcomed by three different girls much like herself.

"Hey there! Welcome to the Celadon City Pokemon Gym!" bellowed the redhead.

"Erika is right this way." explained the brunette.

"We hope that you enjoy your Gym Battle." spoke the blonde.

"I will." nodded Lucy.

Sure enough Erika was in the garden...however, Lucy immediately realized that she had a problem.

She was sound asleep.

"Hmm...what am I going to do? I can't just yell at the top of her lungs to wake her up...she'll flip." murmured the girl.

"Clefairy..." whispered the fairy Pokemon. How were they going to do so?

"Maybe If I shake her gently...then maybe she'll wake up." noted Lucy.

Clefairy nodded in agreement. That seemed like the best course of action.

"Er, excuse me...could you please wake up? I would really appreciate if you did." asked the female Pokemon trainer as she gently shook Erika awake.

Sure enough, she woke up...but with a start.

"What? What happened?! Is there a fire?! Where is it! Are any of my Pokemon in danger?!" exclaimed the grass-type specialist.

"What? No no no. I just needed you to wake up so that I could challenge you to a gym battle, that's all." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh...alright then. Sorry about that. I just tend to doze off sometimes...well OK...maybe a lot. I usually dream about flowers." noted Erika.

"I see." nodded Lucy.

"Anyways, you want a Gym battle, am I right? Well alright then. Please send out a Pokemon for me." answered the female Gym Leader.

"Sure!" nodded Lucy. "Go, Pidgeotto!"

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the flying Pokemon.

"I'm starting to wonder if I should start training a type that has less weaknesses...but since grass Pokemon are my pride and joy...go Tangela!" bellowed Erika.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon.

As soon as she saw Pidgeotto...she began to whimper.

"Yes, I know...we've encountered a lot of flying and fire types lately...but try to stay calm, will you? You might still have a chance of winning this." suggested Erika.

Personally, Tangela wasn't so sure that was true...but she decided to listen to her Pokemon trainer anyway. She knew what to do, right?

"Pidgeotto, use Gust!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, Tangela began to feel very, very dizzy. She was being spun around like fruit in a blender!

When the wind finally settled, the vine Pokemon was having a hard time staying on her feet, and her eyes were swirling around.

"Pull yourself together, Tangela!" ordered Erika.

Fortunately for Erika, her Tangela was able to do so.

"Use Mega Drain...try to heal some of your injuries..." demanded the grass-type specialist.

Tangela did so...but unfortunately, due to Pidgeotto being a flying-type, this didn't do much good.

"If only there was a Grass/Electric type...or something like that..." noted Erika.

_Back at the Team Rocket Hideout..._

"Onix, use Rock Throw! Again!" bellowed Giovanni.

Onix once again listened to the commands of his master, pummeling Fearow with rocks. It quickly became apparent that he couldn't take much more of this.

Once again, Fearow hit Onix with a fury attack...this time, it only hit three times. The rock snake Pokemon didn't seem very injured.

"Finish him off!" ordered the Team Rocket head.

Immediately, Fearow was buried underneath even more rocks...it quickly became pretty clear that he had fainted.

Chris recalled her Fearow into his Pokeball.

"You may be a bit stronger than I thought...but I'm still going to beat you! Go Charmeleon!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Doesn't that have a type disadvantage too?" inquired Ned.

"Whatever!" answered Chris.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed Chris's Charmeleon as he was released from his Pokeball.

Suddenly, he noticed that he was facing an Onix...much like the one that his former Pokemon trainer had forced him to face earlier.

"Charmeleon..." murmured the fire Pokemon. Was Chris sure about this?

"Use Metal Claw!" demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Charmelon shrugged and started clawing into Onix...this proved to be surprisingly effective.

"Onix!" bellowed Giovanni's Onix.

"Pull yourself together! Use Rock Throw!" demanded Giovanni.

The rock snake Pokemon did so...but Charmeleon was smart enough to know to try to avoid them...which he did.

"Heh heh...isn't that a nifty little move..." noted Chris.

Charmeleon nodded...though personally he wondered if he was going to win against his opponent with that move alone.

"Use it again!" demanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Charmeleon did so again, and this time he scored a critical hit...which allowed him to bypass Onix's defenses and knock him down for the count.

"Yes!" cheered Chris.

"One down, two to go...let's see how you fare against my Rhyhorn!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Rhyhorn? That can't be good." thought Ned.

"Rhyhorn!" bellowed the rhino Pokemon as it was released from its Pokeball.

Curious, Ned decided to scan the Rhyhorn with his Pokedex.

"Rhyhorn, the Spikes Pokemon. It runs in a straight line destroying everything in his path, and can crash through steel." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Oh man! We're in trouble! We're in trouble!" bellowed Ned.

_Meanwhile..._

"I'm in trouble...I'm in trouble." thought Erika.

Sure enough, Tangela was receiving quite a beating from Lucy's Pidgeotto. It looked that he was about to faint.

"Well, there's got to be at least one thing we can do before you collapse on the spot..." noted Erika.

"Tangela?" inquired the vine Pokemon.

"I know! Use Poison Powder!" ordered the female Gym Leader.

Tangela nodded...and all of a sudden, Pidgeotto started to feel rather...woozy.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

"Uh-oh! Quickly, use Gust!" demanded Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so...and unsurprisingly, Tangela fainted.

"Well, now to send out my Victreebell." answered Erika as she recalled her vine Pokemon and pulled out another Pokeball.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the venus fly trap Pokemon as it was released from its Pokeball.

"I don't think you want to climb in there..." noted Lucy.

Pidgeotto nodded...those digestive juices would surely burn her.

Sure enough, Erika instructed Victreebel to fire some of those said digestive juices at Erika...or as she referred to it as...Acid.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the flying Pokemon. That acid really hurt. In fact, she got the feeling that it had lowered her defense.

And to make matters worse, the poison that had been inflicted on Pidgeotto earlier was beginning to take its toll.

"Use Whirlwind!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto did so...causing Erika's Victreebel to begin to feel very dizzy.

"Victreebel..." murmured the plant Pokemon.

"Now use Gust!" demanded Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto as usual obeyed her trainer...immediately, Victreebel found herself being buffeted by harsh winds...unfortunately, since she was stronger than Tangela was, she wasn't as heavily affected.

"Give her another round of Acid!" demanded Erika's Victreebel.

Erika's Victreebel did so...once again pelting Lucy's Pidgeotto with acid. Immediately, she began to feel very weak.

"Oh man..." thought Lucy.

But on the plus side, she seemed to have learned a new technique. Immediately, she trapped Victreebel inside a tornado...though it didn't seem to be a wind-based attack, as she wasn't taking a particular amount of damage from him.

"Oh! Looks like you learned Twister!" exclaimed Lucy.

Pidgeotto nodded. Oddly enough, she seemed to have forgotten a particular move when she did so...though she couldn't quite remember which one, ironically enough. Hopefully it wasn't too important.

However, at that particular moment, Pidgeotto fainted. Lucy sighed as she recalled the bird Pokemon.

"I had to admit, you did pretty well." noted the girl. Hopefully Victreebel was weakened enough for her new Vulpix to finish her off. Then again, she wasn't very experienced at the moment...Lucy had only caught her recently at all.

Nonetheless, she figured that in the worst case scenario, Vulpix would at least gain some experience from battling...right?

"Go, Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Vulpix." murmured the fox Pokemon. It was nice getting to participate in a Pokemon battle...but she was feeling a little nervous.

Then again, she was up against a grass-type...she knew for a fact that grass-type Pokemon were typically frightened of fire-types...she wondered why?

_Meanwhile..._

"Use Metal Claw!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Charmeleon did so, clawing into the Rhyhorn and doing super-effective damage...however, due to Rhyhorn's high defense, this didn't hurt him too much.

"Still resisting? Rhyhorn, use Stomp!" ordered Giovanni.

Rhyhorn nodded, crushing Charmeleon underneath his foot. Thankfully, he was able to help himself up to his feet.

"Keep using Metal Claw...that's what's working best so far..." noted Chris.

Charmeleon nodded...though eventually he got the feeling that he was going to lose all the PP for the move before long.

"Rhyhorn!" bellowed the rhino Pokemon. Unfortunately, it appeared that he now getting angry.

Once again, he stomped on top of Charmeleon...but this time he hit him very hard. Apparently he had fallen victim to a critical hit.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the flame Pokemon. Apparently that attack had taken the breath right out of him...which was fairly unfortunate considering he typically attacked by breathing fire.

Curious, he decided to try out a new technique.

Immediately, he attacked Rhyhorn with the ferocious rage of a dragon.

"Rhyhorn!" bellowed the spikes Pokemon, who was suddenly feeling rather exhausted.

"Ah...good to see that you've been learning new techniques." noted Chris.

Charmeleon nodded, though he still began to doubt that he was going to win this fight...and his trainer for that matter.

"Use Scary Face!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni's Rhyhorn once again obeyed the commands of its master...and Chris's Charmeleon found himself being paralyzed with fear.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

This gave Giovanni the opportunity to stomp on Charmeleon's head, knocking him out cold.

"Well, I guess it's time to send out my Jigglypuff." said Chris as she recalled her fire Pokemon. Surely she would be able to defeat the leader of Team Rocket...right?

_Meanwhile..._

"Vulpix, use Roar!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Vulpix did so, scaring Victreebel out of her wits.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the grass Pokemon. Who would have thought that such a young fox could be so terrifying?

"Pull yourself together!" ordered Erika.

Erika's Victreebel tried to do so...but unfortunately, she was still paralyzed with fear.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lucy instructed Vulpix to roast Victreebel with Ember...which she did, causing Victreebel to end up getting burned in the process.

All of a sudden, Vulpix knew why grass-types didn't like fire-types much...because they always seemed to have the upper hand against them in combat.

"Good job, Vulpix!" cheered Lucy.

"Vulpix!" exclaimed the fox Pokemon.

"Victreebel, use Stun Spore!" ordered Erika.

Erika's Victreebel did as her trainer commanded...but Vulpix moved out of the way. Apparently she knew that strange spores should be avoided.

"Vulpix, try using Confuse Ray!" commanded Lucy.

Vulpix nodded...and all of a sudden, Victreebel began to feel very dizzy.

"Victreebel, use Mega Drain!" ordered Erika.

Victreebel nodded...but unfortunately, she ended up striking herself instead, and she was down for the count.

"I guess it's up to my Vileplume now." noted the grass-type specialist as she recalled her Victreebel.

Throwing another Pokeball, out came her Vileplume.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the pedal Pokemon.

"Funny, I happen to have a Bulbasaur..." noted Lucy.

"You do? I've always wanted to get my hands on one..." spoke Erika.

"Maybe you should ask Professor Oak?" inquired the girl.

"Maybe I should...hmm." thought the grass-type Gym Leader.

_Back to Chris and Giovanni..._

"Jigglypuff, use Sing!" ordered Chris.

Jigglypuff did so, causing Rhyhorn to fall asleep, much to Giovanni's frustration. He was starting to see why that teenage girl was toppling her Rocket Grunts like dominoes. But no matter, he had just the thing to get rid of her once and for all.

"Right then...I guess it's time to send in my trump card." said the leader of Team Rocket.

Recalling his Rhyhorn, Giovanni sent out his strongest Pokemon...a Kangaskhan.

"Kangaskhan!" roared the pouched Pokemon.

"Kanga!" exclaimed the baby inside its pouch.

Ned screamed in horror. It was now very clear what a bad situation the duo were in. Trembling, he decided to scan Kangaskhan's entry in the Pokedex.

"Kangaskhan, the Parent Pokemon. It will not run for any fight if it means keeping its child protected." read the Pokedex.

"I guess this Pokemon is a mother...wait, it's going to do everything in its power to protect its child? Chris, you're in really deep trouble!" bellowed Ned.

"I'll just put it to sleep with Sing. No biggie." answered Chris.

Immediately, Chris's Jigglypuff began to sing towards Kangaskhan hoping to make it fall asleep.

She succeeded...but unfortunately, the child Kangaskhan did not...and immediately, she woke up her mother with her loud crying.

"Kanga?" inquired the Kangaskhan.

Chris dropped her jaw in shock. Apparently trying to put Kangaskhan to sleep wasn't going to do her any good at all...not with that child Kangaskhan to keep her awake.

"Kangaskhan, use Bite!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Giovanni immediately sank her teeth into Jigglypuff...they were very sharp.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff!" screamed Chris.

Unfortunately for Jigglypuff, she was too petrified of her new opponent in order to attack.

"Perfect! Finish her off! Mega Punch!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni then finished off Chris's Jigglypuff with her Mega Punch...hitting her as hard as she could.

"Jiggly..." murmured the balloon Pokemon as she fainted.

"Jigglypuff..." whispered Chris. She couldn't believe what had just happened as she reluctantly handed Giovanni some prize money.

Giovanni happily recalled his Kangaskhan back into his Pokeball. Personally he wondered why he hadn't gone after the meddling teenager before.

"You've lost. You're weak. And you thought that you were actually going to stop Team Rocket...your overconfidence amuses me." taunted the crime lord.

Chris had been stunned into silence, while Ned's jaw dropped in shock.

"Right then...why don't you leave my hideout and show everyone in Celadon City what a weak Pokemon trainer you are? You're not worth my time, and quite frankly, neither are my grunts." said the Gym Leader.

Chris immediately ran out of the Rocket Hideout...with Ned following her.

"Chris, wait up!" exclaimed Ned.

"Shouldn't we have stolen her Pokemon, sir?" inquired a Team Rocket Grunt.

"It's not like we have to steal Pokemon from every single Pokemon Trainer we come across...besides, it was so satisfying to crush her spirit, wouldn't you say?" asked the head of Team Rocket.

"If you say so." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

_Meanwhile..._

"Alright then...Vileplume, use Sleep Powder!" commanded Erika.

Erika's Vileplume immediately put Vulpix to sleep...unfortunately, it appeared that a nap didn't seem a bad idea for her at the moment.

"Vulpix, wake up!" demanded Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Vulpix was going to remain in Slumberland for a while.

"Very good. Use Acid!" commanded Erika.

Immediately, Vileplume shot Vulpix with acid from the same hole she used to gather pollen, curiously enough.

Surprisingly, the fox Pokemon was still asleep.

"Vulpix, you're being clobbered out here! Now isn't the time to be sleeping!" warned Lucy.

One of Vulpix's eyes opened for a moment...but unfortunately she went back to sleep.

Lucy sighed. It looked like her fire Pokemon was in for a world of hurt...and possibly a world of fainting.

"Vileplume, use Acid again!" demanded Erika.

Vileplume once again pelted Vulpix with acid causing to wake up...but she was now feeling very exhausted.

"You can still do this! Use Ember!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Vulpix immediately burned the grass Pokemon with her fire breath...but shortly afterwards she began to pant in exhaustion.

Vileplume then finished Vulpix off with Mega Drain...healing some of her injuries in the process.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fox Pokemon as she fainted.

Lucy immediately recalled her Vulpix into her Pokeball. At least she managed to take down one Pokemon before she went.

"Good job, Vulpix...it's time for you to shine, Clefairy!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" bellowed the fairy Pokemon.

"Have you ever been to Mt. Moon?" asked Erika curiously.

"Actually I have, why?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, that's where Clefairy typically hang out..." noted the female Gym Leader.

"Oh yeah...my Clefairy seemed rather excited about traveling there." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

"Anyways...Clefairy, use Metronome!" commanded Lucy.

Clefairy immediately moved her hands back and forth, which both began to glow white. Shortly afterwards, Vileplume found herself being roasted by fire.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

"Whoa! That was spicy!" noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered the fairy Pokemon.

"It's not over yet! Vileplume, use Mega Drain!" commanded Erika.

VIleplume did so, draining Clefairy out of energy and making her feel woozy.

However, this was ultimately prove not to be enough.

"Clefairy, use Metronome! Again!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so...and immediately, she froze Vileplume solid with ice.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the grass-type specialist.

"One more time?" inquired Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded...and immediately, she hit Vileplume with a powerful psychic attack...since Vileplume happened to be part poison type, this was very effective, and she fainted on the spot.

"Congratulations. You've certainly earned your Rainbow Badge." noted Erika as she recalled her Vileplume and handed Lucy her prize money.

"Yes! I love rainbows!" cheered the wealthy girl.

"So do I. Now have fun!" exclaimed Erika.

Suddenly, she noticed that her Clefairy was trying to take a flower pot from Erika's garden.

"We need to ask her for one of them first, Clefairy." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured the alien Pokemon sadly.

"By the way, you should really watch out for Team Rocket." warned the grass-type specialist.

"Team Rocket?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...for some strange reason, they like hanging out in Celadon City...I'm not quite sure why...then again, I've seen them hanging out in Saffron City too..." noted the Gym Leader.

"OK, I'll be careful!" nodded the female Pokemon trainer as she left the gym.

"Gee, I hope they don't barge in my gym...that would be a disaster...what if they lit my gym on fire?!" thought Erika.

"Did you win?" inquired Jake.

"Uh-huh!" bellowed Lucy.

"Alright then...it's my turn now I guess." nodded the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Have fun! I'll be at the Rocket Game Corner!" exclaimed the girl.

"The Rocket Game Corner?!" bellowed Jake.

"Yeah...I heard that you can get prizes there...even Pokemon!" squealed Lucy.

"Er OK then...have fun!" answered the Team Rocket Grunt, who was now feeling very worried about his partner's safety. Surely she would be fine...right?

_Meanwhile outside the Rocket Game Corner..._

"Chris, are you OK?" asked Ned curiously.

As it turned out, Chris was sitting down with her face on her knees and was on the verge of tears. She couldn't believe that Giovanni had managed to crush her Pokemon like a bug-type.

"Am I really weak? Have I really not been training my Pokemon enough?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Don't be silly! He was just messing with your head...I've never been able to beat you in a Pokemon battle..." noted the nerd.

"He even managed to defeat...my Jigglypuff..." murmured Chris.

"Winning isn't everything in a Pokemon battle...besides, there's nothing shameful about losing to the leader of Team Rocket!" exclaimed Ned.

At that very moment, Chris stopped sniffling.

"I heard that Giovanni is an exceptional Pokemon trainer...and you still managed to hold your own against him even with a type disadvantage..." explained Ned. Personally he hoped that he would able to cheer her up before long.

"Maybe you're right. But what if I have to face him again? Am I going to lose horribly? All I ever wanted was to be a strong Pokemon trainer..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

"You are a strong Pokemon trainer! Just don't underestimate Giovanni like you did before and I'm sure you'll be ready when you next face him...you wanted to save the world from Team Rocket, right?" inquired the boy.

"Yeah...but I think that's just a dream now." answered Chris.

"What makes you think that dreams can't be true? I'm sure we've all had them at one point..." noted Ned.

"Maybe you're right...thanks for helping me out. I really needed that..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer, rising to her feet.

"I know! What if we have another Pokemon battle? I'm sure that will cheer you up!" exclaimed Ned.

"OK then...here it goes." answered Chris as she pulled out a Pokeball. Was she going to win?

Hopefully she would be feeling better after having a Pokemon battle with her partner...then again it usually did before.

"Maybe Ned is right...maybe I will be able to get my revenge on Giovanni one day..." thought Chris.

_Oh dear...it looks like Chris got too cocky and lost horribly against Giovanni...hopefully she'll be able to boost her confidence back up...it'd be a shame if she decided to cut her Pokemon adventure short, wouldn't it? There are still so many Pokemon out there to capture..._

_Anyways, in the next chapter...Lucy is going to enter the Rocket Game Corner...and well, things are going to start going downhill for her._

_Meanwhile, Jake is going to battle Erika...how is that going to go for him? We'll find out. So until next time! Peace!_


	27. Chapter 27: Captured

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jake will take on Erika...meanwhile, things will go downhill for Lucy...in retrospect she probably shouldn't have walked into that Rocket Game Corner...then again, that was Giovanni's plan all along._

_And yes, Ned and Chris will be duking it out once again...that way the latter can build her confidence up once again._

**Chapter 27: Captured**

Lucy eagerly went to the Rocket Game Corner, happy to win some prizes. Thankfully, since she was rather well off, she didn't have much of a problem buying coins...then again, it costed twenty dollars per coin, so they didn't exactly come cheap.

Thankfully, she was fairly good at gathering coins using the lottery machine. She had to admit, there were a large amount of goods on sale. Heck, they were even selling Pokemon.

Of course, they were also selling TMs too. Lucy personally wondered if she should try giving her Pokemon them.

Suddenly, she noticed that there was a strange-looking man standing in front of a nearby poster. He was fairly short.

"What could he possibly be doing there?" questioned Lucy.

Admittedly, that poster wasn't particularly interesting...it simply had a picture of a rocket on it and nothing much else.

Still, she wondered why that man was so interested in it.

Curious, she noticed that he was dressed just like a Team Rocket Grunt...all of a sudden, she began to feel worried.

"What's a Team Rocket Grunt doing here?" inquired Lucy.

Immediately, she decided to talk to him.

"Excuse me, what are you doing in front of that poster?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. Was he hiding something?

"That's none of your business!" exclaimed the Grunt.

"I was just wondering..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, the Team Rocket Grunt pulled out a Pokeball.

"What the-" exclaimed Lucy.

"I'll teach you to poke your nose in my business!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, the Grunt sent out a Zubat.

"I can't believe a Pokemon trainer is challening me to a battle inside a casino..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. This was a rather awkward experience.

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Clefairy immediately did so...and the Team Rocket Grunt's Zubat found himself encased in a block of ice.

"C'mon! Get out of there!" demanded the Grunt.

Unfortunately for him, the Zubat was having a very hard time thawing himself out.

Lucy instructed her Clefairy to use Rock Throw again, causing rocks to fall on top of Zubat, knocking him out for the count.

"What? I shouldn't need to use my other Pokemon against a measly little girl...Go, Raticate!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"What makes you think I'm weak?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Um..." answered the Grunt.

"Raticate!" bellowed the rat Pokemon.

"He sure is big isn't he? Clefairy, use Metronome!" demanded Lucy.

Immediately, Lucy's Clefairy did so, punching the Raticate in the face.

"Raticate!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon.

"C'mon! Use Hyper Fang!" ordered the Grunt.,

Imemdiately, the Raticate sank his teeth into Lucy's Clefairy, doing significant damage.

"Use Doubleslap!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy did so, slappping Raticate into unconsciousness.

"Darn it! How could I lose? Oh man this is bad!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, the Grunt stormed out of the casino.

"Why was he so defensive of that poster anyway?" asked Lucy.

For some strange reason, the female Pokemon trainer couldn't help but shake the feeling that poster was rather important.

Suddenly, Lucy's Clefairy began trying to remove the poster from the wall.

"What are you doing?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" bellowed the fairy Pokemon. Apparently she had noticed something about it.

With one tremendous yank, Lucy's Clefairy was able to tear down the poster.

As it turned out, there was a switch nearby.

"A switch? How peculiar..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Curious, she decided to flip the switch to see what would happen.

Suddenly, a staircase appeared.

"A staircase? What were the chances of that? Is this where they keep the prizes?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. For some strange reason, she got a very bad feeling about that particular staircase.

Oddly enough, none of the gamblers inside the casino had noticed the commotion. They were all too busy trying to win the slots.

"C'mon! I want to win some cash!" bellowed one of the gamblers.

"Hurry up! I want some prizes!" bellowed another one of the gamblers.

"They sure are obsessed with gambling, aren't they? C'mon, let's go check it out!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She wasn't so sure that was such a good idea.

Reluctantly, she accompanied her Pokemon Trainer to wherever the mysterious staircase led to.

She got the feeling that it was a place to be avoided.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Jake was asking Erika for a Pokemon battle.

"Would you like a Pokemon battle?" asked Jake curiously.

"Sure, why not." answered Erika.

"Thank you...I've already got three badges and I'm working for my fourth one." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"That's nice." noted the female Gym Leader.

For some strange reason, Jake couldn't help but feel worried about Lucy. Was she going to be fine? Granted, she was fairly decent at Pokemon battling in her own right...but would she discover the dark secret of the Rocket Game Corner?

If so, she could be in danger.

Trying to keep himself calm, Jake chose to send out his Oddish.

"Oddish!" exclaimed Jake's Oddish.

"First a Bellsprout, and now an Oddish...it's nice to know that my challengers like Grass Pokemon too..." noted Erika.

"Yeah...I encountered her while my partner was having a Gym battle...she wanted a Pokemon battle so...yeah." answered the Team Rocket Grunt.

"That's interesting..." nodded the female Gym Leader.

"Now then, where were we? Oddish, use Acid!" exclaimed Jake.

Oddish immediately pelted Tangela with acid. Unfortunately for the grass Pokemon, she was not part poison type like her comrades, meaning that she took super-effective damage from poison attacks.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon.

Tangela retaliated by trying to constrict Oddish...but she managed to jump out of the way.

However, Jake began to worry about Lucy some more. Her parents would inevitably be devastated in the event that her daughter got kidnapped...and Giovanni was planning on extorting money from her wealthy parents.

These thoughts continued to persist at the Team Rocket Grunt continued to battle Erika.

"Oddish, use Acid again!" ordered the male Pokemon trainer.

Oddish nodded, pelting Tangela with another round of acid. Why did all of her challenges have Pokemon that were super-effective against her?

Then again, grass Pokemon did tend to have a lot of weaknesses.

"Tangela, use Ingrain!" ordered Erika.

Tangela nodded as she brought her roots into the ground in order to heal herself.

"There's got to be a way to counter that..." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

As it turned out, Oddish did have a way to help counter that.

Immediately, she pelted Tangela with Stun Spore.

"Tangela..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

Unfortunately for the vine Pokemon, she was now unable to attack.

"Oddish, keep pelting Tangela with Acid!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Oddish once again did as she was told, and Tangela fainted.

"Oh dear..." murmured Erika. Why did her Tangela always end up facing Pokemon that were super-effective against her? It'd be nice if she got to face a Water or a Rock Type for a change. Maybe that way she could win a battle.

But apparently it simply wasn't meant to be.

"Right then...I know what to do. Go, Vileplume!" exclaimed Erika.

Erika immediately sent out her Vileplume, causing Oddish to gasp in shock. Would she stand a chance against her final form?

_Let's check on Ned and Chris..._

"Right...which Pokemon should we send out first?" inquired Chris.

"I suppose I'll start with my Pikachu." spoke Ned.

"Alright then...I'll send out my Onix...not like it matters." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"C'mon! I'm sure that you'll be able to beat me again..." explained the nerd as he pulled out a Pokeball.

"Whatever you say." murmured Chris.

"Go, Pikachu!" bellowed Ned.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed the nerd's Pikachu.

"Right then...Onix, you're up...I guess." answered Chris.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

"Pika pi..." murmured the mouse Pokemon. He did not like his chances.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" exclaimed Ned.

Pikachu nodded and immediately pelted Onix with electricity...unfortunately, this didn't hurt him at all. In fact, that only seemed to tickle him.

"Pika pi..." spoke Ned's Pikachu. If electric attacks did not work against Onix, then he was up a creek without a paddle.

"Onix...use Rock Throw." murmured Chris.

Chris's Onix immediately pelted Pikachu with rocks...already, the mouse Pokemon was taking a lot of damage.

"Pikachu..." murmured the mouse Pokemon. This was not going to end well.

"Use Tail Whip!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Pikachu nodded, though he wondered if that wasn't going to do much good. Onix's defense was stellar as it was.

"Onix...use Rock Tomb..." murmured Chris.

Chris's Onix did so, and immediately Ned's Pikachu found himself being buried underneath rocks. Due to the fact they were very heavy...he fainted.

"Well, would you look at that...I managed to defeat one of your Pokemon...not like that's going to do me any good..." murmured Chris as Ned recalled his Pikachu.

Suddenly, Ned's Bellsprout emerged from his Pokeball.

"Uh-oh..." murmured the nerd. It wasn't really going to build up his partner's confidence if he sent out a Pokemon that was super-effective against hers.

Curious, he tried recalling Bellsprout into his Pokeball, but unfortunately she blocked it with a vine.

"I guess I have no choice..." murmured the nerd.

"Bellsprout!" cheered the grass Pokemon.

"Oh would you look at that...now my Onix is going to faint for sure..." murmured Chris.

"C'mon! There's more to Pokemon battles than winning!" exclaimed Ned.

"Whatever you say...use Rock Tomb for me, will you?" answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Onix once again crushed his opponent underneath some heavy rocks...Bellsprout made it out still able to battle, but she was feeling rather exhausted.

"See? Even though you have a type advantage you still have the upper hand!" exclaimed Ned.

"How long is that going to last?" asked Chris curiously.

"Relax...I'm sure that you'll be able to beat my Pokemon t-

Suddenly, Ned's Bellsprout began to evolve.

"Um..." murmured the nerd.

Immediately, Ned's Bellsprout became a Weepinbell.

"Weepinbell!" exclaimed Ned's new Weepinbell.

Feeling depressed once again, Chris scanned Ned's new Pokemon out of boredom. Curiously enough, she had actually encountered Weepinbell's evolution beforehand.

"Weepinbell, the Flycatcher Pokemon! It swallows everything that moves, and its prey is then melted by strong acids!" explained the Pokedex loudly.

On cue, Ned's Weepinbell began to clamp onto him.

"Get it off me!" bellowed the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

Fortunately, she did not use her acid to hurt him.

"Oh man...this was so much more bearable back when she was still a Bellsprout...granted, even there I thought it was annoying, but still!" exclaimed the nerd.

"Weepinbell!" bellowed Ned's Weepinbell.

Immediately, Weepinbell used Stun Spore to paralyze Onix.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon. All of a sudden, he was having a very hard time moving.

Unfortuantely, this prevented him from immediately attacking Weepinbell in retaliation. Chris sighed.

"Weepinbell, use Vine Whip!" exclaimed Ned. Hopefully this wouldn't do too much damage...

But considering that Onixes had a quadruple type disadvantage against grass-types, his hopes were quickly dashed.

"Onix!" bellowed Chris's Onix. All of a sudden, he found himself on his last legs...or his last tail rather.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb." murmured Chris.

Onix did so, but unfortunately Ned's Weepinbell now had an effective way to counter that. Immediately, she used her mouth to swallow the rocks, then spat them out at Onix.

This immediately caused Onix to faint. Ironically, he had been defeated by his own attack.

Ned sighed. It was rather nice that his Weepinbell wanted to impress him...but it wasn't doing much good for Chris's confidence, which was low enough currently as it was.

"Go, Charmeleon..." murmured Chris.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed Chris's Charmeleon.

Curious, he noticed that his owner seemed to be rather depressed. Personally, he wondered if he should try to cheer her up. It'd be the least he could do after she saved him from Jerry.

For now, he figured that he should try to win the Pokemon battle for his trainer.

_Let's see what's going to happen to Lucy now..._

Immediately, Lucy noticed that she didn't seem to be in a rather good place. For one thing, it wasn't exactly well-lit. Was someone trying to save on electricity bills? Then again, people could simply use electric pokemon to power their houses these days, assuming they had one.

Much to Lucy's shock, they were several Pokemon locked away in carriers. They all seemed rather frightened.

Who could have locked them all away?

Her question was answered when suddenly two Team Rocket Grunts leapt out from the shadows and grabbed her by the arms so that she couldn't move.

"Hey! Let go!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy.

Suddenly, another Team Rocket picked up the fairy Pokemon and locked her away in one of the Pokemon carriers that they were going to sell to their clients later. There were a surprising amount of people that were willing to purchase Pokemon from them.

All of a sudden, it occurred to Lucy what a bad situation she was in.

Apparently, all the Pokemon that were inside the Pokemon carriers had been stolen from Pokemon trainers...well, most of them anyway. Some of them were just wild Pokemon that had the misfortune to bump into Team Rocket Grunts that were looking for some cash.

After all, Pokeballs weren't exactly expensive...especially to a wealthy criminal organization.

Suddenly, Lucy began to hear some evil laughter.

"Well, would you look at that...it looks like newest recruit has finally succeed in his task! Granted, he took forever and a day...but at last we'll be able to make some money off of you! And look, he even brought me a gift!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Sure enough, Lucy's Clefairy was trying to claw her out of the Pokemon carrier...but she wasn't having much success.

"What informant? What are you talking about?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, you should know him well. But that's beside the point for now. You're going to make me some big bucks! Grunts, tie her by the wrists to a chair for me, will you? And bring her to my office." explained Giovanni.

Immediately, the two Team Rockets did as they were commanded.

"Don't do this!" bellowed Lucy.

"Nothing personal...this is just business." answered one of the Team Rocket Grunts.

Sure enough, Lucy found herself alone in Giovanni's office along with the head honcho of Team Rocket himself. He was happily petting his Persian.

"RIght then...I'm sure that your wealthy parents will be able to pay me through the house for returning their precious daughter for them...surely they consider you to be worth at least a million Pokedollars or so..." spoke Giovanni.

"What if they don't pay the ransom?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to make money off of you even if your parents don't comply..." answered the leader of Team Rocket.

Lucy gulped. She really did not like the sound of that.

"Right then...now to make the phone call." said Giovanni as he began to dial her parents' phone number.

The female Pokemon trainer sighed. How had things go downhill for her and her Clefairy so fast?

Hopefully Jake would be able to get her out of this...right? And just who was that Grunt Giovanni was talking about?

_Meanwhile..._

All of a sudden, Jake was beginning to feel more worried about Lucy than ever. He was certain now that she was in a horrible situation.

Of course, technically, so was his Oddish, who was being pummeled into oblivion by her final evolution, but considering that Erika's Vileplume wasn't going to do her too much harm regardless of whether she won or lost, that was the lesser of his concerns.

Eventually, Oddish fainted, and Erika's Vileplume scored a victory.

"Right then...what are you going to use next?" inquired Erika.

All of a sudden, Jake began to sweat uncontrollably.

"Er, is something the matter?" asked the female Gym Leader.

"N-nothing! It's f-fine!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Really? You seem to be stuttering." spoke Erika.

"I-I'm sure it'll p-pass! Go, Z-Zubat!" bellowed Jake.

Immediately, Jake's Zubat was released from his Pokeball.

"Zubat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon.

"Vileplume, use Mega Drain!" exclaimed the grass-type specialist.

Vileplume did so...but that didn't hurt Zubat much.

Curious, Jake's Zubat noticed that Jake seemed to be nervous about something. Was he afraid that he was going to lose the Gym Battle?

Curious, Zubat began to wonder if it was time for him to evolve. He had been a Zubat for a while now...

Immediately, he decided to focus energy to see if that would do the trick...

Which actually worked.

Suddenly, Jake's Zubat began to glow...and in a few seconds, he became a Golbat.

"Er, c-congratulations, Zubat! Or s-should I say G-Golbat?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

With his hands trembling, he decided to scan his new Pokemon.

"Golbat, the Bat Pokemon. It will not stop draining energy from its opponent...even if it eventually becomes too heavy to fly." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"That's g-good to know!" exclaimed Jake.

"You look like you're having a panic attack...you know what? How about we have a rematch later? You can come back when you're more relaxed." stated Erika.

Jake sighed. Granted, it would be rather disappointing if he had to forfeit the gym match...but Lucy was much more important to him.

"S-sure!" bellowed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then...what are you so concerned about anyway?" asked Erika.

"It's my friend! I think she might be in danger!" exclaimed Jake.

"Whatever makes you think that?" inquired the female Gym Leader curiously.

"She w-went to the Rocket Game Corner, and s-she hasn't returned!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh dear." murmured the grass-type specialist. She had heard some pretty nasty rumors about the place...and wondered if they were actually true.

"Right...I suggest that you look for your friend there then." explained Erika.

"I will!" answered Jake.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunt ran out of the gym to look for Lucy.

"Funny...I actually haven't won a Gym battle by forfeit for quite some time now..." noted the Gym Leader. Trainers simply didn't want to give up these days.

_Meanwhile..._

Giovanni was very happy that he was finally going to make some money now that he had finally captured his target.

However, as soon as he dialed Lucy's phone number, he realized that he had a problem.

"We are currently not at home right now. If you wish to talk to us, please leave us a message after the beep." said a voice from the telephone. Apparently they were somewhere else.

Giovanni banged his fist on his desk in frustration. He had already waited for Lucy as long enough as it was! Now he was going to have wait for her parents too?!

"Darn it, I need to find a way to spend my time...I know! I think I'll go yell at Jessie and James for their incompetence...that usually cheers me up." noted the leader of Team Rocket.

Immediately, he left the office so that he could do something pleasurable.

Of course, he realized that in doing so he was not keeping an eye on Lucy...but surely his Grunts would stop her if she tried to flee for the hills, right?

"There's got to be a way out of here somewhere..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately for the girl, she doubted that she could simply break the rope with her bare hands.

Well, technically she could, but since Giovanni was probably going to be back soon, time exactly wasn't on her side.

Curious, she decided to look around for something sharp that she could use to free herself. But there didn't seem to be anything in sight.

Suddenly, she began to hear scratching noises. She looked around, and discovered that it was none other than her Clefairy. Apparently, the Team Rocket Grunts had decided to bring her Clefairy to Giovanni as well.

It wasn't too surprising, considering that the leader of Team Rocket was interested in making money off of her Pokemon as well.

"Clefairy, is that you?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that despite Clefairy's small claws being surprisingly sharp, she wasn't having much progress in freeing herself as well.

Suddenly, Lucy got an idea...what if instead of trying to free themselves, they tried to free each other?

Curious, she decided to move the chair over to Clefairy to see if she would be able to claw through the ropes...which she was able to do so somewhat easily.

"Yes!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. Apparently she wanted to be freed as well.

Looking around, the female Pokemon trainer noticed that the Team Rocket Grunts had left the key for the Pokemon carrier right out of Clefairy's reach...apparently they thought it would be fun tantalizing her.

Well, their sadism was about to backfire on them.

Immediately, Lucy used the key to unlock Clefairy's cat carrier. Now all that was left now was to make a getaway before Giovanni returned.

As it turned out, Giovanni had placed Lucy's Pokeballs on his desk, so she didn't have a problem getting them back.

Now all that was left now was to try to escape the Team Rocket Hideout.

"I know! I'll have my Kadabra teleport us out!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy.

"What? I left my Kadabra at Oak's PC?" inquired Lucy.

The wealthy Pokemon trainer sweatdropped. Now how was she going to get out?

"I guess we're just going to have to try to sneak our way out...or failing that, fight everyone that tries to stop us." spoke the girl.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That sounded like a plan.

_Meanwhile..._

After his hasty exit from Erika's Pokemon Gym (and his forfeit to his Gym match with Erika, as well), Jake frantically began his search for Lucy. No doubt she was desperately in need of his help.

"I have to find Lucy!" bellowed Jake as he raced to the Rocket Game Corner.

As it turned out, there were two Rocket Grunts standing in front of the casino. Oddly enough, they actually recognized him. The one of the left had a scar on his right side of his face while the one of the right had a scar on the left side of his face.

"Hey there! How are you doing today, J-

The Team Rocket Grunt on the left was cut off when suddenly Jake stormed past them.

"Sheesh, what's his hurry?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt on the right.

"I have no idea." answered the Team Rocket Grunt on the left.

Getting desperate, Jake sent out his Grimer to help him search for Lucy.

"She's got to be around here somewhere!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Curious, Grimer noticed the wide-open staircase and the flipped switch.

"Oh no! It's just as I feared!" exclaimed Jake.

Apparently, Lucy had managed to discover the entrance to the Rocket Hideout...inevitably, she had decided to climb down the staircase to invesigate.

By the looks of it, it had only gone downhill for her and her Clefairy from there.

"Grimer!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

"I guess we have no choice...but to go in there." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Grimer..." murmured Jake's Grimer. Apparently he was looking forward to this as much as he was.

"Don't worry Lucy, I'm coming for you!" exclaimed Jake as he ran down the staircase.

He hoped that he wasn't already too late...he really didn't want Lucy's parents to have to spend so much money just to have their daughter returned to them.

Besides, she had a Pokemon journey to complete...and she couldn't exactly go out and collect gym badges if she was being held hostage.

Of course, he realized that if he was going to save Lucy, he was undoubtedly going to have to confront Giovanni himself.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time before I was going to have to do this..." noted Jake.

_Speaking of Giovanni..._

Giovanni had a big smile on his face. It always felt so good at yelling at Jessie and James for their incompetence...then again, they never seemed to learn from their mistakes no matter how many times he did so.

He was actually considering firing them, but he figured that they would beg him to give him another chance, so he decided not to.

Oddly enough, his Persian seemed rather excited as well. Apparently he was aware as to how valuable Lucy was to him as he was.

But no matter. Surely the money Mr. and Mrs. Hisakawa gave him would make up for whatever damages to his finances their idiocy had caused him, right?

Eagerly, he decided to call on the phone to see if her parents were now at home...unfortunately, they were not.

"Gah! Where are they?!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Suddenly, he noticed that there seemed to be something missing in his office. Something...important.

"Hmm...that's weird, what could possibly be missing? I know I still have you..." inquired the leader of Team Rocket.

"Persian?" asked his Persian curiously.

Curious, he looked around, and gasped in shock.

His hostage had disappeared!

"Where did she go?!" bellowed the leader of Team Rocket.

Curious, he noticed that there were broken pieces of knotted hemp nearby...and realized that she had escaped.

"Perfect! I leave her alone for one minute and already she's making a getaway! Well, at least I still have her-"

As it turned out, Lucy's Clefaiy had escaped as well.

"Persian..." murmured Giovanni's Persian sadly.

"Is it too much for me to still have her Pokeballs?" asked Giovanni.

Judging from the empty drawer where he had placed Lucy's Pokeballs, yes it was.

"No matter! She can run away from me, but she can't hide! I shall extort money from her parents, make no mistake about that!" bellowed the leader of Team Rocket.

_Uh-oh! It looks like Giovanni isn't going to give up on Lucy anytime soon...can Lucy escape the Team Rocket Hideout?_

_And will Jake be able to lend her a hand? Of course, if he wants to protect his partner from Giovanni...he's going to have to betray Team Rocket...does he have the guts?_

_And how will Chris and Ned's Pokemon battle turn out? Find out in the next episode (or chapter, rather) of a Typical Pokemon Journey!_


	28. Chapter 28: Jake Vs Giovanni

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jake is going to battle Giovanni...this showdown was kind of destined to happen...but who shall achieve victory?_

_Oh, and Chris and Ned will wrap up their battle._

**Chapter 28: Jake Vs. Giovanni**

"Right...try using Smokescreen...see how much that does." spoke Chris.

Chris's Charmeleon nodded. Hopefully he would be able to cheer up his Pokemon trainer if he managed to win this.

Sure enough, Ned's Weepinbell found herself having a very hard time seeing things. Where did everyone go.

"Weepinbell, use Vine Whip!" ordered Ned.

Unfortunately for Weepinbell, she missed.

"Right then...try using Ember for me...see what that does." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Charmeleon nodded, and immediately Ned's Weepinbell ended up getting burned.

Oddly enough, this made Chris's eyes actually light up for a moment.

"OK...maybe I'm not quite as weak as I thought...but I bet I'm still no match for Giovanni..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Still as eager to impress her Pokemon trainer as always, Ned's Weepinbell shot a glob of acid at Charmeleon...which was significantly better than trying to attack a fire Pokemon with vines.

"Charmeleon..." murmured the fire Pokemon. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt that much, but he was personally expecting another vine whip.

"Alright! Now you can use a poison-type attack...that'll be useful if you ever have to face a fire-type again...or a flying type...or an ice type...or a psychic type...gosh why do you have so many weaknesses?" asked Ned.

Ned's Weepinbell sighed. At least it was marginally better to have four weaknesses rather than five like a pure grass Pokemon would have, right?

However, another round of fire, it became apparent that Weepinbell was not going to win. In fact, she fainted on the spot.

"Well, I think you've showed some remarkable improvement...though I'm worried about how much bigger you've become..." noted Ned as he recalled his Weepinbell.

"Right then...I think I know what to use on Charmeleon..." noted the nerd.

"Go, Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

"Gyarados!" bellowed Ned's Gyarados.

"Oh boy..." murmured Chris.

"Charmeleon..." muttered Chris's Charmeleon. He was in a very bad situation indeed.

And to make matters worse, it appeared that Gyarados had a new trick up his sleeve.

Immediately, he pelted Charmeleon with Dragon Rage.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Already, the chameleon Pokemon was beginning to feel exhausted.

"Try to hang in there...though you probably won't." murmured Chris.

"Char..." murmured Chris's Charmeleon. How was he going to stand up against the sheer power of Ned's Gyarados.

Curious, he wondered if he could also use that particular ability.

As it turned out, yes he could.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the atrocious Pokemon.

"C'mon! Hang in there!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Gyarados nodded, and immediately he thrashed into Charmeleon...which was more than enough to knock him out cold.

"Well, that was what I was expecting...then again, at least my Charmeleon learned a new trick..." murmured Chris.

Curious, Ned began to wonder if his strategy was working. She was seemingly starting to believe in herself.

Hopefully this would do the trick.

_Meanwhile..._

Trying to sneak her away across the hideout, Lucy for the most part did not have to deal with any Team Rocket Grunts as she tried to bust her way out.

However, she eventually came across Jessie and James...who were trying to impede her path.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked James curiously.

"Uh-oh..." murmured Lucy.

"Prepare for trouble!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"And make it double!" bellowed the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Our boss is going to make a large amount of money!" squealed James.

"He's going to earn so much that it's not even funny!" shouted Jessie.

"You shouldn't be running away from us now!" exclaimed the blue-haired boy.

"To our overwhelming power you must bow!" bellowed the red-haired girl.

"OK..." murmured Lucy.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!" bellowed Jessie.

"Return yourself to Giovanni or prepare to fight!" exclaimed James.

"Meowth! That's right!" shouted Meowth.

"Yeah...I think I'm going to have to choose the latter...I bet Giovanni's prices are going to be absurd." noted Lucy.

"Very well. Go, Arbok!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Go, Weezing!" bellowed James.

"Uh-oh..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer. It appeared that they had evolved their Pokemon since her last encounter with them.

Curious, she decided to scan them both.

"Arbok, the Cobra Pokemon. It is rumored that the markings on its stomach vary from area to area." read Lucy's Pokedex.

"Weezing, the Poison Gas Pokemon. It lives and grows by absorbing dust, germs, and poison waste that can be found in garbage." continued Lucy's Pokedex.

"Hmm...this isn't going to be as easy as before..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

And to make matters worse, Jake wasn't here to give her a hand this time...it looked like she was going to have to face them solo.

"Right then...Clefairy, use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy did so and hit Arbok with a Fire Punch...but unfortunately the two Pokemon began to dogpile her.

"Oh dear...I think I need to send a Pokemon to give you a hand...hmm, which one haven't I used in a while...I know, I'll use Butterfree!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Butterfree!" bellowed the butterfly Pokemon.

"Butterfree, use Confusion!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Butterfree nodded, and all of a sudden, Arbok and Weezing began to feel rather confused.

"C'mon! Pull yourself together! Use Pin Missile!" ordered Jessie.

"Use Smokescreen!" commanded James.

Fortunately for Weezing, he was able to use Smokescreen to surround the hideout with smoke, sending Lucy's Clefairy and Butterfree into a coughing fit. Unfortunately for Arbok, she ended up attacking Weezing instead.

"Weezing!" bellowed the smoky Pokemon.

"Oh dear..." murmured Lucy.

However, Arbok was able to return to her senses shortly afterwards.

Fortunately for Lucy's Butterfree, she was able to use Gust to blow the smoke away.

"Right then...Clefairy, is there another move you can use other than Metronome? I'm starting to wonder if you're going to run out of PP..." noted Lucy.

Suddenly, Clefairy began to shrink.

"Er, where did you go?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the now miniature Clefairy.

"Boy, your voice has gotten squeaky all of a sudden..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's tiny Clefairy.

"Er, that isn't going to impede your battle abilities, is it?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turned out, it did not, as Lucy's Clefairy was able to hit as hard as ever. Unfortunately for Arbok and Weezing, they were having a very hard time hitting her fairy Pokemon all of a sudden. Neither of them could use the move Stomp...since obviously they both did not have feet.

"Weezing..." murmured the floating Pokemon. How were they going to be able to strike Clefairy?

"Arbok..." murmured the snake Pokemon. She was asking the very same question.

Curious, they decided to see what happened if they tried focusing on Lucy's Butterfree instead...

Only for Butterfree to hit them both with a Psybeam.

"Arbok!" bellowed the snake Pokemon.

"Weezing!" exclaimed the smoke Pokemon.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

Immediately, Arbok and Weezing passed out on the spot.

"Noooo!" bellowed Jessie.

"We lost again!" exclaimed James.

Immediately, the two Team Rocket Grunts ran away crying.

"Well, now to make my getaway..." spoke Lucy.

"Making a getaway? Surely you jest." answered a voice.

Lucy gasped. As it turned out, it was none other than Giovanni.

"Did you really think that it would be that easy to get away from us? Nobody gets away from Team Rocket! Heh heh heh." spoke the leader of Team Rocket.

"You won't get away with this!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh please...how many crimes have I gotten away with now? Fifty? A hundred? Officer Jenny can't touch me." answered Giovanni.

"Lucy!" bellowed a voice.

"Jake?" asked Lucy.

Curious, the leader of Team Rocket looked around, and discovered that it was none other than his newest Team Rocket Grunt. He began to laugh.

"I'm here to save you!" exclaimed Jake.

"What? You're here to save the girl? Don't be ridiculous. I specifically entrusted you to capture that girl. Have you forgotten?" spoke Giovanni.

"What?!" exclaimed Lucy.

Jake sighed. It was only a matter of time before he was going to get discovered. He just knew it.

"You see, I entrusted my latest Team Rocket Grunt to bring you to me...he's been a double agent this whole time." explained Giovanni.

"Is this...true?" asked Lucy.

Jake once again sighed.

"Yes...it is..." spoke the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Now then...I'm going to cut you a deal...if you surrender the girl to me, I'll make you one of my executives. Mind you, that's a position most of my grunts have been trying to get for years..." said Giovanni.

"I can't believe it...I've been duped this whole time..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, the leader of Team Rocket stretched out his hand.

All of a sudden, Jake found himself with a rather difficult choice. Should he choose to rejoin Team Rocket and become an executive? Or should he help Lucy and protect her from Team Rocket?

Curious, he decided to scan his heart to see what he wanted to do.

Finally, after much premeditation...he eventually came to a decision.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"No."

Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

"What? No? Surely you want to be an executive, don't you?" asked the leader of Team Rocket.

"You know...my father told me that the world was a dark, cruel place. But you know what's really dark and cruel about it? It's people like you that use Pokemon for personal gain!" exclaimed Jake.

Giovanni frowned. Personally he felt that he had a surprising amount of potential in him for his young age.

"Run for it, Lucy! I'll hold him off!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"What about you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Don't worry about me! Worry about yourself!" bellowed Jake.

Reluctantly, Lucy stormed out of the hideout, leaving him alone with Giovanni.

Immediately, several Team Rocket Grunts appeared to cheer their leader on.

"Yeah! Fight fight fight!" bellowed the grunts.

"You're a fool to challenge me, don't you know that? Surely you realize how capable I am as a Pokemon trainer..." noted Giovanni.

"Yes, I know...but I can't allow you to harm Lucy." answered Jake.

"Very well...it's time for me to teach you some respect." answered the leader of Team Rocket as he pulled out a Pokeball.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunt pulled out a Pokeball of his own. Personally he wondered what he had gotten himself into.

But if he had a chance to save Lucy, he was going to take it.

_Elsewhere..._

"Right then...go, Fearow!" exclaimed Chris.

"Fearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Gyarados, use Thrash!" commanded Ned.

Ned's Gyarados pummeled into Fearow, doing a severe amount of damage.

"Fearow!" exclaimed the Pokemon.

"Sheesh..." murmured Chris.

Fortunately for Fearow, he was also able to use this move using his Mirror Move attack, allowing him to thrash into Gyarados as well.

Sadly, this wasn't quite enough to take him down...mainly due to how strong he was.

"Look at that, you can copy your foe's attacks now...I wonder how much good that does..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

Gyarados then knocked out Fearow with a single bite.

"Well, Fearow's down for the count..." remarked Chris as she recalled her Pokemon.

She began to wonder if she was actually going to defeat Ned's Gyarados, and if it was going to sweep through the rest of her Pokemon team.

Surely there were one of her Pokemon that stood a chance against him...right?

Curious, she decided to send out Paras...it was as good of a shot as any.

"Go, Paras!" exclaimed Chris.

Oddly enough, she actually felt excited when she did so...was she regaining her confidence?

"Paras par!" bellowed the parasite Pokemon.

Suddenly, he noticed that the enemy he was facing happened to be a Gyarados.

"Paras..." murmured Paras. Did he have a chance?

"C'mon, you can do this. I think." spoke Chris.

"Paras." answered the mushroom Pokemon. If his Pokemon trainer said that he could do so, then he figured that he could.

"Try using Poisonpowder!" suggested the female Pokemon trainer.

Paras nodded...immediately, Gyarados found himself being bombarded with a poisonous mist...and felt rather ill.

"Gyarados..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"C'mon! Pull yourself together!" exclaimed the scientist.

However, at that very moment, Gyarados fainted. Apparently the battles he had fought earlier had taken their toll.

Ned sighed. His strongest Pokemon was down for the count. And he didn't think that he had many Pokemon left.

"Go, Growlithe!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Growlithe!" barked the canine Pokemon.

Immediately, Paras felt rather horrified. It was rather apparent that he did not have a chance against the puppy Pokemon.

If he tried facing him, then he would surely be taken down very quickly.

"Hmm, you're right Paras...I think it's time to switch." noted Chris as she recalled her Paras.

"Paras!" cheered the bug Pokemon as he returned to his Pokeball.

"Right then...go Nidorino!" exclaimed Chris.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Maybe I should try doing that if I ever find myself in a bad situation...then again there are moves that can prevent other Pokemon trainers from trying that..." spoke Ned.

Curious, he decided to see if he could use Growlithe to switch out his opponent's Pokemon with Roar. Granted, so far he had only used that to intimidate other Pokemon rather than actually forcing them to switch out...but he was willing to try that.

"Growlithe, use Roar!" commanded Ned.

Ned's Growlithe did so, petrifying Nidorino with fear. He immediately ran to his Pokeball and switched himself out with another Pokemon.

"OK..." murmured Chris.

However, as it turned out, it wasn't actually Paras...it was Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly?" inquired Chris's Jigglypuff.

Ned sighed. He was personally hoping for Paras again, but it wasn't meant to be.

_Meanwhile..._

"You really shouldn't defy me, Jake. I'll have you know that I'm the powerful Pokemon trainer in Kanto! And you're just a little boy." answered Giovanni.

"I'm twelve years old...and I'm fairly tall for my age." noted Jake.

"To me you're just a little boy. Go, Onix! It's time for you to learn a lesson in respect!" bellowed the boss.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

"I'm assuming that suffering is going to be my teacher?" asked Jake.

"Yeah, pretty much...though personally I'd prefer it if I made your Pokemon suffer...I've been abusing Pokemon for years and I don't really intend on stopping now." noted the boss.

"That's too bad. Go, Squirtle!" bellowed the rebelling Team Rocket Grunt.

"Squirt squirt!" bellowed the turtle Pokemon.

"Right then...use Bubble!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake did so, and Onix found himself soaking wet. This was not a fun experience for the rock snake Pokemon, who frantically tried to shake himself off.

"Pull yourself together, Onix! You still have a chance of winning this!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Onix..." murmured the rock Pokemon.

"Use Rock Throw!" commanded the leader of Team Rocket.

Onix obeyed his trainer, and rocks immediately fell on top of Squirtle. However, she was smart and withdrawed into her shell to avoid it.

Giovanni frowned. He was trying to teach the Team Rocket Grunt to listen to him and do his bidding...but so far it didn't seem to be working.

"Hmm...you're not bad considering your young age...again, I would like you to be one of my executives." spoke the Team Rocket Boss.

"Never!" exclaimed Jake.

"So stubborn. Such a pity..." murmured Giovanni.

"Squirtle, use Bite!" exclaimed the rebel.

Squirtle immediately sank her teeth into Onix...but unfortunately, the rock snake Pokemon did not take too much damage due to his high Pokemon defense.

Also, Squirtle's teeth now hurt.

"Squirtle..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"You're right, I should have used Bubble again." noted the boy.

Giovanni laughed.

"Onix, use Harden!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Onix nodded, hardening himself to prevent Squirtle from doing more damage.

"Right then...Squirtle, use Bubble!" commanded Jake.

Squirtle once again pelted Onix with bubbles, causing Onix to begin to feel tired.

"What? Don't tell me you're going to lose against him? Use Rage!" ordered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Onix did so, and immediately he got very angry. He lunged towards Squirtle and attacked her savagely.

"Squirtle!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Unfortunately, the impact of the force knocked her to the ground. She had fallen and could not get up.

"Squirtle..." murmured the Pokemon.

To make matters worse, this temporarily prevented her from attacking.

"Perfect! Onix, use Rock Throw!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni nodded, and unfortunately Squirtle did not withdraw into her shell in time.

"Squirtle..." murmured the water Pokemon.

On the plus side, she was eventually able to help herself to her feet.

"C'mon! You can do this!" exclaimed Jake.

Filled with confidence after what her Pokemon trainer had said to her, Squirtle suddenly began to spin rapidly.

"What is she up to?" inquired Giovanni.

Squirtle then hit the Onix with a powerful spin, causing him to collapse on the ground.

Giovanni scowled in frustration. His Onix could not even defeat one of his Pokemon! This Pokemon battle was off to a bad start.

Granted, the Pokemon trainer that had faced him earlier today had come closer to defeating him than he would have liked, even if she didn't seem interested in using type advantages against him...but he wasn't about to tell her that.

However, he decided to taunt Jake anyway.

"So what if you defeated one of my Pokemon? I assure that you was a one-time fluke, Jake. Your luck is about to run out." answered the Team Rocket Boss.

"We'll see about that." replied the disobedient preteen.

"Go, Rhyhorn!" bellowed the leader of Team Rocket.

"Rhyhorn!" exclaimed the rhino Pokemon.

Jake sighed. Taking down Giovanni was surely not going to be easy...he could tell that much already.

_Meanwhile..._

"Jigglypuff, use Sing!" ordered Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded, causing Growlithe to fall asleep. Unfortunately, he had very sensitive hearing,.

"Growlithe..." murmured the fire Pokemon as he fell asleep.

"Right then...I know what to do now..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Jigglypuff began to roll into Growlithe...it was super effective and already he starting to take a significant amount of damage.

Of course, once a Jigglypuff began to roll, it was very difficult for them to stop...though it wasn't necessarily a bad thing in a Pokemon battle.

This time, the balloon Pokemon had gained momentum, and she was moving much faster than before. Growlithe took even more damage.

"Wake up!" bellowed Ned.

Unfortunately, it appeared that his fire Pokemon was a heavy sleeper.

Jigglypuff then hit Growlithe one last time with Rollout...and he fainted.

"Growlithe!" bellowed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Oh dear...you should have probably sticked to my Nidorino..." noted Chris as she recalled her Jigglypuff.

"Yeah, maybe I should have..." noted Ned. He couldn't believe how easily his Growlithe had been defeated.

"Right then...I've only got two Pokemon left, so I better make them count. Go, Nidorina!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Nidorina!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Go, Paras!" exclaimed Chris.

"Paras!" shouted the mushroom Pokemon.

Suddenly, he noticed what he was up against...and he began to whimper.

"Oh dear...you're weak to poison attacks...aren't you?" inquired Chris.

"Paras..." nodded the parasite Pokemon.

"You're right...maybe I should switch to Nidorino." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she recalled Paras into the Pokeball and switched to Nidorino.

"Wait, isn't my Nidorino in love with your Nidorina?" asked Chris curiously.

Once again, they began to snuggle with each other.

"We're at a stalemate...again..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

As before, they removed Nidorino and Nidorina from the battlefield. Of course, this left Ned with just his Eevee.

"Right then...it's just your Eevee, my Paras, and my Jigglypuff." spoke Chris.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" cheered the rabbit Pokemon.

"Go, Paras! For the third time today..." bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

_At the Team Rocket Hideout..._

"Squirtle, use Bubble!" exclaimed Jake.

"Squirtle..." murmured the turtle Pokemon. Unfortunately, after her fierce battle with Onix, she was feeling rather exhausted.

Nonetheless, she managed to spit out a bubble at Rhyhorn, which did significant damage.

However, she left herself vulnerable to another assault.

"Rhyhorn, use Horn Attack!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni's Rhyhorn immediately hit Squirtle with his horn, causing her to immediately faint.

"Squirtle!" exclaimed Jake.

"Hahahaha. I hope that you have some other Pokemon that are strong against mine..." smirked the Team Rocket Boss with satisfaction.

"Actually, yes I do. Rock Pokemon tend to have their fair share of weaknesses...kind of like a Grass Pokemon." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Hmm..." murmured Giovanni.

"Go, Oddish!" exclaimed Jake.

"Oddish!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, she realized that she was up against a fairly large enemy, and began to feel scared.

"C'mon! You can do this! Rhyhorns are weak against grass-types!" exclaimed Jake.

"Oddish..." murmured the grass Pokemon. Apparently, her Pokemon trainer was right, though she wasn't sure if she could win regardless.

"Use Absorb!" ordered the Team Rocket Grunt..

Instead, Oddish used Mega Drain.

"Oh, use that instead then...good to see you're learning new techniques." noted Jake.

"Oddish!" cheered the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, Rhyhorn felt rather drained...though he was going to keep fighting anyway.

"Rhyhorn, use Stomp!" commanded Giovanni.

Giovanni's Rhyhorn immediately stomped Oddish, causing her to feel dizzy.

"Oddish..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Oddish!" exclaimed Jake.

Oddish tried to help herself back to her feet...but she was feeling rather weak.

Giovanni laughed, and instructed Rhyhorn to hit Oddish again.

This time, Oddish was sent flying.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

Giovanni once again laughed.

"You sent a vegetable to fight me? Ha! And to think you threw away such a promising career..." noted the Team Rocket Boss.

"Oddish..." murmured Jake.

However, Oddish wasn't quite down for the count just yet. Suddenly, she helped herself to her feet.

"Oddish?" inquired the Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, she began to glow. As it turned out, she was evolving.

"What?" inquired Giovanni.

In this case...she had evolved into a...Gloom.

"Gloom!" bellowed Jake's new Gloom.

Jake scanned his new Gloom with his Pokedex.

"Gloom, the Weed Pokemon. It smells very foul, though 1 in 1000 people actually like the smell." read Jake's Pokedex.

"What? Impossible!" exclaimed Giovanni. How could Oddish have not fainted from an assault like that?

Apparently, she was more resilient than he gave her credit for.

"Yes! Congratulations, Oddish! Or should I call you Gloom now?" bellowed Jake.

"Gloom!" cheered Jake's Gloom.

"No matter! Your Pokemon evolving isn't going to save you! Rhyhorn, use Stomp!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Giovanni's Rhyhorn ran towards Gloom to do so...

...but then stopped when he noticed something.

"Rhyhorn!" bellowed the rhino Pokemon. Gloom smelled absolutely awful! She was emitting a very unpleasant aroma from the flower on her head.

Instead of stomping her, Rhyhorn backed away.

"What's the matter with you? Why aren't you attacking the Pokemon?" inquired Giovanni.

"Rhyhorn..." murmured the rhino Pokemon. He wasn't getting anywhere near that Pokemon, not with that foul stench.

"It appears that Grimer isn't the only Pokemon of mine that's stinky." noted Jake.

Jake once again instructed Gloom to hit Rhyhorn with a Mega Drain attack. This time, Rhyhorn was now feeling very weak.

"Use Horn Attack!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Once again, Rhyhorn refused to get anywhere near Gloom...which was rather unfortunate as he usually fought at close-range.

"Insolent coward!" bellowed the boss of Team Rocket.

This naturally worked in Jake's favor, who finished Rhyhorn off with yet another Mega Drain attack. Also, Gloom was now completely healthy and had recovered from her beating from before.

Giovanni could not believe what was happening. He was down to his last Pokemon, and Jake still had two very healthy Pokemon left.

"That's it! It's time for me to send out my Kangaskhan! You've pushed me this far, Jake, I'll give you that...but this ends now!" bellowed the leader of Team Rocket as he threw his last Pokeball.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the kangaroo Pokemon.

"We might be in trouble..." murmured Jake.

"Gloom..." mumbled the grass Pokemon.

_Meanwhile..._

"Paras, use Poisonpowder!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Paras nodded, and Eevee found himself being poisoned.

"Eevee..." murmure Ned's Eevee.

Unfortunately for Paras, Eevee was able to take him out a few minutes later with a well-placed Bite.

"Oh dear...you can't take too many hits, now can you? At least you seem to be very good at attacking..." noted Chris.

Paras nodded weakly.

"Well, I guess it's just Eevee and Jigglypuff." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned nodded. He had a feeling that it would come down to this...just like before.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jiggly!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

"Use Sing!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Jigglypuff nodded and began to sing a song. However, Eevee covered his ears to prevent the song from working.

"Oh dear...I guess he thought that I would try that..." noted Chris.

"Works for me...Eevee, use Quick Attack!" commanded the geek.

Instead, Eevee used Take Down, which did a fair amount of damage to Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

"Nice! I'll make you forget that Quick Attack move then..." spoke Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

Unfortunately, he ended up hurting himself in the process.

"Eevee..." murmured the rabbit Pokemon.

Adding to that, this left Eevee more vulnerable to Jigglypuff's Sing attack, since he was now a lot closer.

Chris immediately seized the opportunity, instructing Jigglypuff to sing again. This time, covering his ears wasn't as effective, as he was now much closer.

Eventually, as much as he tried to resist, Eevee ended up falling asleep.

"Eevee..." murmured the rabbit Pokemon in his sleep.

"Eevee!" bellowed Ned.

"Perfect! Now use Rollout while he's sleeping, will you? That seems like as effective as a strategy as any..." noted Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff continued to use Rollout after Rollout after Rollout while he was asleep...

As with Growlithe before him, this worked surprisingly well...though admittedly he wasn't weak against rock-types as he was...

Eventually, Eevee fainted, and Jigglypuff was the victor.

Ned sighed. He was starting to wonder why he always had to lose against Chris...but at least she seemed to believe in herself some more.

"So, are you feeling better now?" asked the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah, I am." nodded the tomboyish Pokemon trainer.

"Good, because I found this in the Team Rocket Hideout." spoke Ned.

Immediately, Ned showed Chris the Silph Scope he had taken from Team Rocket.

"What is this?" asked Chris.

"I believe that we can use this to identify ghosts...my dad once told me about it...he said that he helped design it himself." figured the nerd.

"Really?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...I figured that Team Rocket had probably stolen it...so I decided to take one...maybe we should try heading to the Lavender Tower now? I heard rumors that it was haunted..." noted Ned.

"Sounds like a good idea." nodded Chris.

Immediately, the two Pokemon trainers decided to head to the Pokemon Tower to see if the tower was really haunted...and if they could find anything useful inside.

_Meanwhile..._

"Kangaskhan, use Mega Punch!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni's Kangaskhan struck Gloom as hard as she could...which was very hard indeed.

"Gloom!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

"Use Stun Spore!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Gloom immediately pelted Kangaskhan with Stun Spore...which caused her to become rather sluggish.

"Good...now use Mega Drain!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Gloom nodded as she began to drain Kangaskhan of energy...unfortunately, due to the fact that one of the reasons she fought was to protect her child...she was full of energy indeed.

"This might be a problem..." noted the rebel.

Unfortunately, Kangaskhan used Fake Out, which caused Gloom to flinch.

"Gloom!" bellowed the grass Pokemon. That was really surprising.

Kangaskhan then hit Gloom with another Mega Punch, sending her flying.

"Gloom!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

This caused Gloom to faint on the spot.

"It's up to my Machop now..." noted Jake as he recalled his Gloom.

"Give up! You cannot possibly defeat me!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"I can still try. Go, Machop!" bellowed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Machop!" exclaimed the macho Pokemon.

Immediately, she began to flex her muscles.

"Kangaskhan, finish this. Use Bite!" ordered Giovanni.

Giovanni's Kangashkan chomped Machop with her teeth as hard as she could...however, Machop did not really feel it. Apparently, her muscles helped protect her from physical attacks as well as deliver them.

"Use Karate Chop!" commanded Jake.

Jake's Machop struck Kangaskhan as hard she could, which considered that she was a fighting-type was very hard indeed. It knocked the breath right out of her.

"Kangaskhan, use Tail Whip!" ordered Giovanni.

In an attempt to get Machop his defenses, Kangaskhan swung his tail at Machop's face, causing her to temporarily lower her ground.

However, this gave the opportunity for Machop to swing Kangaskhan by the tail, then toss her in the air, making her collapse on the ground.

"Congratulations, Machop! It looks like you can toss your enemies now." noted Machop.

"Machop!" cheered the muscular Pokemon.

Kangaskhan helped herself to her feet, though she was now feeling weak.

"Don't tell me you're losing! Finish her!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Kangaskhan nodded as she went to punch Machop, but she caught her hand and pinned her to the floor.

"What? No!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Now finish the job!" bellowed Jake.

Machop finished off Kangaskhan with a final Karate Chop, causing her to faint instantly.

Giovanni could not believe what had just been happened. He had been defeated by one of his own Team Rocket Grunts.

Reluctantly handing Jake a large amount of prize money, he also gave the former Team Rocket Grunt a present for defeating him. He never really needed it anyway.

"I can't believe it...you actually defeated me...how is this possible?" inquired the leader of Team Rocket.

"Your arrogance was bound to catch up with you sooner or later." noted Jake.

"No matter. I shall leave my hideout so that I can train my Pokemon...maybe catch some more while I'm at it...the next time we meet, I shall repay you for this humilation. And mark my words, this isn't over! I shall capture your friend eventually! Just you watch. Farewell!" exclaimed Giovanni.

With that, Giovanni went to speak with Domino, his right-hand woman.

"Domino, you're in charge while I'm gone." spoke the leader of Team Rocket.

"Sir, yes, sir!" exclaimed Domino.

With that, Giovanni left his hideout.

Oddly enough, the Team Rocket Grunts that had been watching Giovanni began to flee. Apparently they were surprised that their leader had lost as he himself was.

"Yeah...good riddance." remarked Jake.

Immediately, he went to tell Lucy the good news. However, he began to worry about Giovanni. Was he really going to take revenge on him?

These thoughts plagued him as he went to search for Lucy.

_Hooray! Jake has defeated Giovanni! But Team Rocket isn't finished yet...their leader is going to try to take revenge on him later on in the story...once he's become stronger, of course._

_As for Chris and Ned, they're going to be investigating the Pokemon Tower...and will encounter an old "friend" of theirs._

_Also, a certain man will be paying Team Rocket a visit...he's decided that he's had enough of their mistreatment of Pokemon. How will things turn out for him? Find out in the next chapter of a Typical Pokemon Journey!_


	29. Chapter 29: Ghostbusting

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jake is going to try facing Erika again...meanwhile, Chris and Ned are going to investigate the old spooky Pokemon Tower...but they're going to encounter Chris's nemesis..._

_You should probably know who he is..._

**Chapter 29: Ghostbusting**

Chris and Ned climbed up the spooky Pokemon Tower, various Pokemon trainers inside the tower warned them that it was haunted, unsurprisingly.

Immediately, Ned began to feel nervous. Personally he was starting to wonder why he ever suggested that they climb up the tower.

"It's a g-good thing that we have this Silph Scope, r-right Chris?" inquired Ned.

"I guess so...though I ain't afraid of no ghost." answered Chris.

"Wait, are you s-saying that you are a-afraid of ghosts?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

Chris sighed. She had just said a double negative, hadn't she? Stupid grammar.

"No, I am not. Why would ghosts even exist?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"W-well, everyone in L-Lavender Town seems to t-think that they exist." noted Ned.

"What do they know?" inquired Chris.

Eventually, the tower began to become misty.

"Where did all this mist come from?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"It's s-starting to b-become hard to s-see." noted Ned.

Suddenly, what appeared to be a ghost jumped out at them.

"Boooo!" exclaimed the ghost.

"Aah!" bellowed Ned, collapsing on his feet.

"Ha! That was priceless!" bellowed the "ghost".

As it turned out, the ghost in question was just a Pokemon trainer in a sheet.

"Wait a minute...I think I know who this is!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris immediately removed the sheet, revealing that it was none other than...Jerry.

"Of course...who else would do something this stupid?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Jerry frowned.

"I'm not stupid! I'm the smartest Pokemon trainer alive!" exclaimed the Pokemon-abusing youngster.

"Then why did you fall for the Magikarp Salesman's antics?" asked Ned.

Jerry sweatdropped.

"Whatever! I'm going to cream you two losers!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Wasn't that what you basically told us last time?" asked Ned.

"Well, this time I mean it! You're going down! Cower before me!" bellowed Jerry.

"Is this about what happened at the S.S. Anne? Because I'm pretty sure that was your fault, thank you very much." answered Chris.

"It was all your fault! I'm getting my revenge for you barring me from the cruise! Go, Sandshrew!" screeched the boy.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the shrew Pokemon.

"Right then...go, Paras!" shouted Chris.

"Paras par!" bellowed the mushroom Pokemon.

Immediately, Paras recognized his former Pokemon trainer, and he began to get angry.

"Paras!" exclaimed the parasite Pokemon.

"Oh, would you look at that? It's my old Pokemon that couldn't even take on that pathetic Charmander that somehow managed to evolve into a Charmeleon..." noted Jerry.

"Paras!" screeched the angry Paras Pokemon.

"My Sandshrew is going to make short work of you! Sandshrew, use Scratch!" bellowed the youngster.

Chris sighed. Once again Jerry chose to use a Pokemon that had a type disadvantage.

Oddly enough, Paras did not seem hurt very much at all. Apparently he wasn't as weak as Jerry thought he was.

At that point, Paras decided to harness his fury...by using Fury Cutter, of course.

"Paras par par!" bellowed Paras, slashing into Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the mouse Pokemon.

"Oh c'mon! Don't be such a baby! Use Defense Curl!" bellowed Jerry.

Jerry's Sandshrew immediately curled up into a ball to defend himself from attack.

Unfortunately, Chris instructed Paras to use his new move again, doing even more damage than before.

"Hmm...it appears that this particular move becomes more powerful the more you use it..." noted Chris.

"Paras!" exclaimed the mushroom Pokemon.

"Use Scratch again!" bellowed Jerry.

Jerry's Sandshrew did so, but Paras ducked.

Paras used Fury Cutter one last time, and Sandshrew fainted.

"Well, so much for my Paras being weak." noted Chris as Jerry recalled his Sandshrew into his Pokeball.

"I'll show you! Go, Slowpoke!" bellowed Jerry.

Jerry sent out his Slowpoke to attack Chris's Paras. However, he seemed more interested in sleeping than fighting.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Chris scanned the Slowpoke with her Pokedex.

"Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokemon! It takes five seconds for it to feel pain!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"OK..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer. Jerry's choices of Pokemon kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"Use Water Gun!" exclaimed Jerry.

Slowpoke spat out water at Paras, but he didn't really feel it.

"Right then...since you seem to be so angry at Jerry, why don't you keep on using Fury Cutter." spoke Chris.

Chris's Paras immediately tore into Slowpoke. This dealt super effective damage.

However, Slowpoke hardly felt it.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"Use Curse!" exclaimed Jerry.

Jerry's Slowpoke immediately raised his attack and defense. However, he also became somewhat slower.

Paras once again used Fury Cutter, and this time Slowpoke collapsed.

"Slowpoke..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"Gah! This rots!" bellowed Jerry as he recalled his water Pokemon.

Jerry recalled his Slowpoke, then sent out a Drowzee.

"Drowzee..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"You had better cower in fear!" bellowed the youngster.

"Oh gosh, I'm so scared." noted Chris.

Paras immediately hit Drowzee with Spore...but unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Well, at least you learned another new technique..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Drowzee, use Hypnosis!" exclaimed Jerry.

Unfortunately, Paras covered his eyes, so the attack missed.

"Use Fury Cutter!" bellowed Chris.

Chris's Paras immediately hit Drowzee with Fury Cutter, causing him to fall on the ground.

"Drowzee..." murmured the psychic Pokemon as he helped himself to his feet.

"I don't care what you say! Your Paras is an utter weakling!" bellowed Jerry.

At this point, Paras was feeling very, very angry. He simply could not stand his former Pokemon trainer any longer.

At that very moment, Paras began to evolve.

"Huh, it looks like you've just created your own worst enemy." noted Chris.

"What?" inquired Jerry.

Eventually, Paras became a Parasect.

"It appears that you made Paras angry enough to make him want to evolve." noted Ned.

"Parasect!" bellowed Chris's new Parasect.

"Ah yes...believe it or not, you've been more helpful to me lately than actually a pain...though admittedly I find you to be obnoxious." noted Chris.

This time, Jerry pulled out his brown-colored Pokedex to scan the Pokemon. The voice of the Pokedex had a rather obnoxious voice.

"Parasect, the Mushroom Pokemon. The mushroom on its back has completely taken over the Pokemon. It prefers damp places." explained the Pokedex.

"Really? You seem rather in control of yourself to me..." noted Chris.

"Parasect?" inquired Chris's Parasect.

"Drowzee, use Confusion!" bellowed Jerry.

Jerry's Drowzee immediately hit Parasect with a confusion...but this didn't hurt him too much.

"Parasect, finish him off!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Parasect did as his Pokemon trainer demanded with yet another Fury Cutter.

Jerry removed his hat and began to stamp on it in frustration.

"Oh dear, he doesn't take losing well, does he?" inquired Ned.

"No, he certainly doesn't." nodded Chris.

"No fair! I'll beat you one day! Then you'll be sorry!" bellowed Jerry as he put on his hat once more.

Suddenly, purple-looking mist began to creep onto Jerry, much to Ned's shock.

Curious, Ned began to scan the purple mist...

"We're sorry, the Pokemon you're scanning could not be recognized. Please note that our Pokemon database is still far from complete and we are currently studying Pokemon from other regions." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"OK..." murmured Ned.

As it turned out, the purple mist had a face.

Curious, Jerry looked around, and discovered the purple mist was looking straight at him.

"Aah! I'm getting out of here! You can have them! Just don't take me!" bellowed Jerry.

Immediately, Jerry pushed Ned to the ground and began to run out of the tower.

"What a filthy coward." noted Chris.

"W-what are we g-going to do?" asked Ned as he helped himself to his feet.

"You have the Silph Scope, don't you?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Hands trembling, Ned used the Silph Scope on the strange purple mist.

Suddenly, the purple mist disappeared, revealing that it was actually a Pokemon...a rather scary-looking Pokemon.

"Gastly!" exclaimed the Pokemon.

"Hmm...judging from the fact that Pokemon always say their own names...this Pokemon is known as a Gastly." spoke Chris.

Immediately, Ned began to whimper.

Chris scanned the Gastly with her Pokedex.

"Gastly, the Gas Pokemon. It is made out of a gas-like substance. It will not appear if it is very windy." explained Chris's Pokedex.

Immediately, the Gastly went up to Chris, and made a very scary face.

However, this did not scare Chris at all.

"Oh please! Do you think that's scary? I got chased by a freaking Tauros! Now that was scary!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

Gastly frowned. Usually when he tried that usually scared people.

Suddenly, he noticed that the Pokemon trainer was not alone and that she in fact had a partner. Curious, he tried scaring Ned instead.

And this time, he hit the jackpot.

Much to Gastly's delight, Ned screamed just like a little girl once again.

Immediately, he tried to crawl away from the Gastly as fast as he could...but the Gastly wouldn't stop following him.

"Chris, help me!" bellowed Ned. He was sweating quite a bit.

Chris sighed. Why did Ned always find himself in these messes? She was sure that this had happened at least once before.

Suddenly, she remembered that the Pokedex mentioned that Gastly did not appear when it was very windy outside.

Curious, she decided out her Fearow.

"Go, Fearow!" exclaimed Chris.

"Fearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Try flapping your wings for me, will you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Fearow nodded, and began to flap his wings.

Suddenly, Gastly began to feel very weak. He immediately collapsed on the floor in a heap.

"Gastly..." murmured the ghost Pokemon.

"There...that ghost shouldn't be causing you any more problems..." spoke Chris.

Ned let out a sigh of relief.

"However, considering that it is a Pokemon..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Don't tell me that you're going to catch that thing!" bellowed her partner.

"Hey, it's not like I find it to be scary...besides, I think I know what to use it for." explained Chris as she threw a Pokeball.

Immediately, the Gastly was enveloped in a red light...thankfully, the Pokeball did not simply go through it.

In just a few seconds, the ghost Pokemon was caught.

"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.

"What are you going to use it for?" asked Ned.

"Just someone that won't leave us alone..." explained the tomboy.

_Meanwhile at the Lavender Volunteer Pokemon House..._

"Give me all the pokemon you have!" exclaimed Jerry.

As it turned out, he was arguing with a red-haired teenage girl (much like Chris herself) that was in charge of the Volunteer Pokemon House while Mr. Fuji was gone. She was dressed in purple overalls and a green shirt.

"I'm sorry, but unless you have Mr. Fuji's permission, we can't start giving Pokemon away!" explained one of the volunteers.

As it turned out, one of the Pokemon that had be sent to the Pokemon volunteer house was none other than his former Gyarados. He was busy sleeping...if anyone woke him up, everyone in the Volunteer House (Pokemon included) would likely be in big trouble.

"Oh c'mon! What's the point of looking after abandoned Pokemon anyway? They can fend for themselves!" bellowed the youngster.

"Please, wait until Mr. Fuji returns! It won't be long, I promise! He went to visit Team Rocket...who admittedly are a bunch of Pokemon criminals." explained the volunteer girl.

"I'm not waiting for Mr. Fuji! I'm getting a Pokemon now!" exclaimed Jerry.

Immediately, he picked up the closest Pokemon to him...which was in this case a Psyduck.

"Psy yi yi yi yi yi!" exclaimed the Psyduck in astonishment.

"Please, don't do this!" bellowed the volunteer girl.

"I'm not listening to you! All the Pokemon here belong to me! Especially this one!" screeched Jerry.

"Psyduck..." murmured the unfortunate Psyduck.

At that very moment, Chris and Ned walked into the Volunteer Pokemon House.

"Hey there Jerry! I've got a present for you!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"What? What is it? Is it Pokedollars?" asked Jerry curiously. Apparently, he was rather greedy.

"Something better." explained Chris.

"Gimmee!" demanded the spoiled brat.

Immediately, Chris sent out her Gastly.

"Gastly!" bellowed the gas Pokemon.

Chris noted that her Gastly was male when she scanned him with her Pokedex once again...he didn't seem to be rather feminine, admittedly.

Gastly went up to Jerry, and made a scary face.

"Aah!" bellowed the youngster.

Immediately, he ran out of the Lavender Pokemon Volunteer House, dropping Psyduck in the process.

"Psyduck..." sighed the duck Pokemon in relief. Admittedly, it would be nice to have a Pokemon trainer...but he was still rather shocked that a Pokemon trainer would suddenly grab him out of nowhere.

"Thank you." said the Pokemon volunteer girl.

"Sheesh...who would have thought that he would try to take Pokemon from the Pokemon Volunteer House?" inquired Ned.

"He might have been more successful if he had been more polite...though I don't really think that you should let him have that Gyarados...he abused him in the past...back when he was still a Magikarp." spoke Chris.

"Really? I'll have to take note of that." nodded the volunteer girl.

"Do you think he'll be back?" asked Ned.

"Probably not. In case you hadn't noticed earlier, he's not exactly brave." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's a good sign. Mr. Fuji was off at the Rocket Hideout and I wasn't sure what to do with him..." answered the volunteer.

"Funny, we were just...there." noted Chris.

"Really? How did you make it out without having your Pokemon taken away from you?" asked the volunteer girl.

"We were...lucky." answered Ned.

"I'm worried about Mr. Fuji. He actually hasn't been back for a while." noted the volunteer.

"I hope he gets back soon then." replied the geek.

"Yeah...who would barge into the Rocket Hideout without knowing what they were getting into, anyway?" asked the girl.

Chris sweatdropped.

_Meanwhile at Celadon City..._

Immediately, Jake spotted Lucy. She was lying across a building, and seemed rather worried.

"Lucy!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Jake!" squealed Lucy. She seemed rather happy that he made it out of the Rocket Hideout in one piece.

"Listen, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that I was a Team Rocket Grunt before...I really should have told you that earlier..." noted Jake.

"Why didn't you?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"I figured if I did that...then you probably wouldn't trust me..." spoke Jake.

"Are you still a Team Rocket Grunt?" asked Lucy.

"No, I'm not...from now on, I'm officially no longer part of Team Rocket!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"That's good to hear." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Jake went into a clothing store...he swapped his black hat with a blue one.

He came out of the store a few minutes later.

"There...so, do you want to continue going on a Pokemon journey together? Just wondering." spoke Jake.

Lucy thought of this for a moment...

And eventually...

She said yes.

"Alright then! I still need to get my Rainbow Badge...to be honest, I kind of got worried about you...and I forfeited the match." explained Jake.

"Really? That was very thoughtful of you." noted Lucy.

"I just think that we should keep an eye on each other, that's all...Giovanni did say that he was going to return to get revenge on us...and I really doubt that he was kidding." explained the preteen.

"Really? We better get ready to fight, then." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Let's just keep going on a Pokemon Journey for now...the more Pokemon ours defeat, the stronger we'll become, right?" inquired Jake.

"Mm-hmm!" nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Jake and Lucy went into the Celadon Gym.

_A few minutes later..._

Erika smiled as soon as soon as she saw Lucy and Jake. She was always happy to have a Pokemon battle...even if she spent most her time gardening rather than fighting.

"Oh, are you ready for our rematch?" asked Erika.

"Yes, I am." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Alright then...go, Tangela!" exclaimed the female Gym Leader.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon.

"Go, Gloom!" exclaimed Jake.

"Gloom!" bellowed the plant Pokemon.

"Oh, it appears that you've evolved your Oddish...that's good to hear." noted Erika.

"Yeah..." nodded Jake.

Suffice to say, Oddish was now a lot stronger than before now that she was in her second stage of evolution.

"Gloom, use Acid!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Gloom immediately pelted Tangela with acid, drastically injuring her.

"Tangela!" bellowed the vine Pokemon.

"Well, you're off to a good start." noted Erika.

"Yeah..." nodded Jake. Personally after defeating his former master he felt that he could take on the world...not that he was obsessed with world domination like Giovanni was.

"Tangela, use Ingrain!" ordered Erika.

Erika's Tangela did so...but unfortunately, Gloom simply hit Tangela with another round of acid, and she fainted.

"Well, trying to heal Tangela didn't work out..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"So, are you sending out Vileplume next?" inquired Jake.

"How'd you guess?" asked Erika as she pulled out another Pokeball.

"Just curious." answered the preteen boy.

"Vileplume!" bellowed the pedal Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Well, at least my Gloom won't be as outmatched as she was before..." noted Jake.

"Let's hope not." nodded Lucy.

"Gloom, keep using Acid!" commanded Jake.

Jake's Gloom immediately hit Vileplume with Acid. Unfortunately, since Vileplumes were also part poison type, this didn't hurt her that much.

"Use Sleep Powder!" ordered Erika.

Erika's Vileplume did so...but technically, Gloom was already asleep, so this did not work.

Erika sighed. She was hoping that would work, but apparently not.

Gloom once again hit Vileplume with acid.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, Erika responded by ordering Vileplume to give Gloom a taste of her own medicine.

"Gloom!" bellowed the grass Pokemon as she fell on her feet.

"Oh dear..." murmured Jake.

Fortunately, Gloom was able to get up again.

"Hmm...what to do..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Eventually, he decided that he should try paralyzing his foe.

"Stun Spore!" bellowed Jake.

Jake's Gloom immediately paralyzed the enemy Vileplume.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Gee, you'd think that another grass Pokemon would be immune to techniques like that...oh well." noted Erika.

However, Vileplume was still able to knock out Gloom with another round of acid.

"Well, at least the new Pokemon I use will have a tactical advantage..." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Erika.

Immediately, Jake sent out his Golbat.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the flying Pokemon.

"Now I'm in trouble..." murmured Erika.

Unfortunately for the female Pokemon trainer, neither grass or poison attacks would work well against Golbat.

"Hmm...there's got to be a way for me to win somehow..." noted the female Gym Leader.

Shrugging, she decided to put Golbat to sleep using Sleep Powder...

Which unfortunately for Jake, actually worked.

"Dang nabbit!" bellowed the male Pokemon trainer.

Now he was going to have to sit back and relax as Golbat took a beating...unless he somehow found a way to wake up Golbat.

"Wake up!" bellowed Jake.

Unfortunately, Golbat remained asleep.

This allowed Vileplume to hit Golbat with acid...thought thankfully this did not do much damage.

"C'mon! Snap out of it!" exclaimed the Grunt.

"Golbat..." murmured the dozing bat Pokemon.

Vileplume then drained Golbat's energy with Mega Drain...though this didn't hurt him at all since he had a quadruple type advantage against grass.

"Maybe I should try upgrading that to Giga Drain...I believe that I have the TM with me..." noted Erika.

At that very point, Golbat woke up.

"Yes! Use Wing Attack!" bellowed Jake.

Golbat hit Vileplume with Wing Attack, and she was knocked out cold.

"Yes!" exclaimed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, now to send out Victreebel." spoke Erika as she sent out her pitcher Pokemon.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the pitcher Pokemon.

Once again, Jake instructed Golbat to use Wing Attack. Victreebel fell to the ground, but she helped herself back up to her feet.

"Use Sleep Powder!" commanded Erika.

Erika's Victreebel did so, and Golbat fell asleep.

"Hmm...maybe I should send out my Grimer while I recall Golbat..." noted Jake.

Erika flinched.

"Wait...did you just say Grimer?" inquired the female Gym Leader.

"Yes I did...why?" asked the Team Rocket Grunt.

"It's just that I had a bad experience with a Grimer once...if it weren't for my Gloom...or should I say Vileplume, since admittedly my Gloom had evolved since then as I've established, I would have been in a lot of trouble." spoke Erika.

"I see...well, if you want, I could just use another Pokemon...don't get me wrong though...I assure you that my Grimer is not dangerous to anybody." explained Jake.

"It's OK, it's OK...I just wanted to let you know." spoke the female Gym Leader.

Jake immediately sent out his Grimer to deal with Erika.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the slimy Pokemon.

Sweat immediately fell down Erika's face.

Immediately, Grimer hurled sludge at Victreebel.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed the plant Pokemon. Apparently she really hated being filthy. Then again, pollution was a grass type's worst enemy.

Erika instructed Victreebel to use Poison Powder on Grimer...but her plan had a major flaw.

Since Grimer was a poison-type, he was completely and utterly immune to poison.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the grime Pokemon. Grimer actually enjoyed that attack.

"Oh dear...I'm in trouble now." noted Erika. In retrospect, maybe she should have tried inflicting a different status ailment...

...but unfortunately, it was already too late.

Grimer hit Victreebel again with sludge. At this point, Victreebel began to panic.

"Keep ahold of yourself!" demanded Erika.

Unfortunately, Victreebel was now paralyzed with fear.

Grimer hit Victreebel with Sludge one more time, and she passed out from fright.

"Um, congratulations Grimer?" asked Jake.

"Congratulations...here's your Rainbow Badge." spoke Erika.

Suddenly, Grimer stretched out his hand, causing the Gym Leader to jump out in fright.

"Eep!" exclaimed the Gym Leader.

But as it turned out, he just wanted to shake hands.

Fortunately, Erika always kept gloves on her whenever she went gardening...which she had done just a few minutes ago.

Immediately, she shook hands with the sludge Pokemon.

"I guess not all Grimers are so bad after all." thought the Gym Leader.

Jake happily accepted the Rainbow Badge from Erika.

"Right then...I think we should head to Fuschia City now..." noted the teenage boy.

"Um, Jake, there might be a problem with that..." spoke Lucy.

"Clefairy." stated Lucy's Clefairy.

"What's the matter?" asked Jake.

Lucy pulled out a copy of the New Pokemon Times.

Apparently, a local Snorlax had fallen asleep...right in front of the route that lead to Fuschia City.

"That does sound like a problem." noted Jake.

"Should we warn Chris and Ned?" asked Lucy.

"Maybe, where are they?" wondered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"As for that, I'm not sure." answered the female Pokemon Trainer.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy.

"What should we do then?" asked Jake.

"Well, I heard that there's a Poke Flute somewhere that you can use to awaken sleeping Pokemon." noted Erika.

"A Poke Flute?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Yeah...I heard that there was someone in Lavender Town that had it...if you want to check there." spoke the Gym Leader.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Jake.

"See you later...if you ever want a rematch." spoke Erika.

"See you!" exclaimed Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

"I can't believe it! Somebody actually went and defeated Giovanni! Personally I thought he was invincible...at least, that was what he always told me." noted Domino.

She had to admit, it was rather interesting being in charge while he was away.

Hopefully he would be back soon though...it was rather lonely with him gone.

Suddenly, she heard someone knocking on the door.

"Who's there?" asked Domino curiously.

"Just a man who really hates it when people are cruel towards Pokemon." said the voice on the other end.

Curious, Domino opened the door to reveal an old man...who was none other than Mr. Fuji.

"Do I know you?" asked the second-in-command of Team Rocket.

"Um listen...I've noticed how Team Rocket has been so cruel to Pokemon lately...and I would really like it to stop." explained Mr. Fuji.

"Well, you'll have to consult it with Giovanni! He's currently off training his Pokemon because he was defeated by our newest recruit...talk about irony." noted Domino.

"Wait, you're not the leader of Team Rocket?" inquired the old man.

"No, I am not." answered Giovanni's number two.

"Well, would it be too much for you to take me to him?" asked Mr. Fuji curiously.

"Giovanni is not here. Please leave a message after the beep." explained Domino.

Domino pressed a button (which emitted a loud beep), and immediately several Team Rocket Grunts were summoned.

"You called, mistress?" asked one of the Grunts.

"Please take this man to the Pokemon Tower...there we can discuss things with him more...privately." explained Domino.

"Yes, mistress!" exclaimed the Grunts.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts began to escort Mr. Fuji out of the maze. Domino decided to follow them.

"Sheesh...this geezer must be out of our mind...what's so bad about selling Pokemon for profit anyway?" inquired Domino curiously.

_Oh dear...it looks like Mr. Fuji may have bitten off a bit more than he could chew when he decided to enter the Rocket Hideout by himself...and to think Giovanni wasn't even there either._

_And how are our four protagonists going to get past that Snorlax? He's not going to wake up easily, I can tell you that._

_Have a good one!_


	30. Chapter 30: The Poke Flute

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to get their hands on the precious Poke Flute...after they save Mr. Fuji, of course._

_Oh, and they're going to adopt some Pokemon...why you ask? Because they're nice...it's rather importat for at least some of the characters in your story to be likable...otherwise people won't care what happens to them._

**Chapter 30: The Poke Flute**

Ash Ketchum was rather satisfied with himself. He had managed to collect no less than four badges. He was about halfway done with his Pokemon journey...

Suddenly, he noticed Butch and Cassidy were nearby...oddly enough, unlike Jessie and James, he never saw them too often. It was a bit perplexing...but why question something he liked?

Oddly enough they seemed rather upset about something...

Curious, he decided to watch them from a distance to see if he could hear anything interesting.

Naturally, his Pikachu decided to lend an ear as well. Apparently he was just as curious as he was.

"Did you hear the news? Our boss got bested in a Pokemon battle!" exclaimed Butch.

"What? That's impossible! Team Rocket is supposed to be unstoppable! How could he possibly lose?" bellowed Cassidy.

"I know! He's very upset about it...he's as surprised as we are." remarked the Team Rocket Grunt.

Ash Ketchum smiled. Apparently Giovanni wasn't as invincible as he thought he was. Personally he wondered if he should try challening him...

However, it appeared that he wasn't at the Team Rocket Hideout at the moment.

"I hear that he's off somewhere where he can train his Pokemon in solitude...I'm not sure where it is...but apparently the Pokemon there give out a lot of experience..." noted Butch.

"Good! Maybe that way he won't lose again!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"I also heard that he's been trying to catch more Pokemon...apparently he feels that having only three Pokemon is a bit of a handicap..." questioned the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Anyways, I heard that someone also tried to bust into our hideout and demand that we stop mistreating Pokemon...how ridiculous." spoke the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah...why would we ever do that?" inquired Butch.

"Wow...this is rather interesting." thought Ash Ketchum.

"Pika pi..." murmured Pikachu.

"By the way, there appears to be a Pokemon trainer spying on us." noted Cassidy.

As it turned out, his hat was sticking out of the bushes...

Ash sweatdropped.

"Oh dear...what should we do with him? I believe we encountered him when we tried to brainwash a city with our Drowzee, I believe..." inquired Butch.

"What else? Let's steal his Pokemon and get on with it! Personally I'd like to see Jessie and James' faces if we managed to steal his Pikachu when they could not..." noted Cassidy.

"I know! Let's get him!" bellowed the male Pokemon trainer.

"By the way, what ever happened to our Drowzee, anyway?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"I don't know...I heard that he evolved into a Hypno and is now works as a hypnotherapist." noted Butch.

"OK...anyway..." murmured Cassidy.

Ash tried to make a break for it, but unfortunately Butch and Cassidy snatched his Pikachu. They immediately raced towards their hideout.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Pikachu.

Unfortunately, Butch and Cassidy had put on a pair of rubber glove before grabbing Pikachu, so using Thundershock was out of the question. Why couldn't they be wearing gloves made out of metal?

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake happened to arrive on the scene...and they noticed what was happening.

"Hey! Somebody's stealing a Pokemon!" exclaimed Lucy.

"It's Team Rocket...of course it's Team Rocket..." remarked Jake.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Apparently just because they managed to defeat Giovanni once doesn't mean that their troubles with Team Rocket were going to end.

At that very moment, Butch and Cassidy spotted Lucy and Jake.

"What's this? Another rare Pokemon!" exclaimed Butch.

"It's like Christmas morning...though admittedly Christmas won't be here for a while..." noted Cassidy.

Immediately, Butch and Cassidy snatched Clefairy, causing Pikachu to scratch his head. Apparently he wasn't the only Pokemon that typically fell victim to Pokenapping.

"Pika pi..." murmured Pikachu.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Not again!" bellowed Jake.

At that very moment, Ash Ketchum ran up to them.

"Did they steal your Pokemon too?" asked Ash Ketchum curiously.

"Yeah...I can't believe they stole two rare Pokemon in one day." noted Jake.

"I suppose we should give each other a hand then..." nodded the boy from Pallet Town.

"Sure, why not." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Hey look...they're singing a song..." spoke Lucy.

Sure enough, Butch and Cassidy were singing a song. It was their theme motto...but as usual it had their own twist added in.

"Prepare for trouble!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"And make it double!" bellowed Butch.

"Funny, isn't that a bit similar to Jessie and James' theme motto?" questioned Lucy.

"To be honest, I think they actually stole that theme song from them, since they clearly were members of Team Rocket for a much longer period of time than they were..." noted Ash Ketchum.

"To infect the world with devastation!" bellowed Cassidy.

"To blight all people in every nation!" exclaimed Butch.

"Our boss may have lost a battle, but have no fear!" exclaimed the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Team Rocket is still here!" bellowed Butch.

"Cassidy!"

"Butch!"

"Our boss will return stronger than ever, he won't lose another fight!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"He'll get his revenge, even if it takes him all day and night!" bellowed Butch.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Cassidy's Raticate.

"Funny you should mention that..." spoke Jake.

Butch and Cassidy raised an eyebrow.

"You see...I was the one that defeated Giovanni..." explained the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Butch and Cassidy dropped their jaws in shock.

"What? You were the one that defeated our leader?" exclaimed Butch.

"How dare you! Because of you Giovanni just took a major blow to his confidence!" bellowed Cassidy.

"Well, he was threatening my Pokemon partner...so I decided to stand up to him...and that's how things turned out." noted Jake.

Ash Ketchum was pleasantly surprised. It was about time somebody helped bring Giovanni to justice after his vile behavior...though it was rather unfortunate that he was plotting his revenge.

"Don't worry, Giovanni! We'll avenge you!" exclaimed Butch.

Immediately, Butch sent out a Shellder, while Cassidy sent out a Tentacool.

"Oh dear...they have a few more Pokemon than when I remembered them...wasn't it just Raticate and Primeape?" questioned Ash Ketchum.

"Are you saying they're getting stronger?" inquired Lucy.

"I'm afraid so by the looks of it!" nodded the Pokemon trainer.

Jake scanned the Shellder with his Pokedex while Lucy scanned the Tentacool with her's.

"Shellder, the Bivalve Pokemon. Its shell is very effective at defending it from attack." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"Tentacool, the Jellyfish Pokemon. Anyone who hook them by accident risk being pelted with acid." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"Yikes...they sure sound dangerous..." noted Jake.

"We should be able to handle them...it's three against two!" shouted Ash Ketchum.

As it turned out, Pikachu and Clefairy had both been locked in the same cage. Oddly enough, they were both playing Go Magikarp.

"Pika pika pi?" asked Pikachu curiously. Apparently he was asking if Clefairy had any sixes.

Unfortunately for Pikachu, she did not.

"Clef clef." spoke Clefairy.

Pikachu sighed as he picked up a card from the pile.

Oddly enough, he once recalled a Clefairy using him to power up a spaceship...thankfully, this Clefairy did not seem interested in using him for that purpose...which he thought was nice.

Then again, she was in the same situation as he was.

Noting that both of his enemies were using water types, Ash Ketchum decided to beat them at their own game by sending out a water-type of his own.

Namely, his Squirtle.

"Go, Squirtle!" exclaimed Ash Ketchum.

"Squirtle!" bellowed Ash's Squirtle as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

"Funny you have one of those..." spoke Jake.

"Huh?" inquired the Pokemon trainer.

"I happen to have one too...though my Squirtle happens to be a female." noted the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Really?" asked Ash Ketchum.

"Yeah." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt as he sent out his Squirtle.

"Squirtle squirt!" exclaimed Jake's Squirtle as she was released from the Pokeball.

"Wait, how do we tell ours apart?" inquired the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake's Squirtle scratched her head. That did seem to be a bit perplexing...

Maybe she should try evolving? Now seemed like as good of a time as any.

Immediately, Squirtle began to focus energy to see if this would induce evolution...

As it turned out, yes it was.

"Wartortle!" exclaimed Jake's Wartortle.

"Nice!" bellowed Jake.

Ash's Squirtle smiled in satisfaction. Personally he wondered if he should try evolving into a Wartortle himself...that way it would be easier to tell him apart from the rest of his Squirtle Squad.

Then again, his Squirtle Squad always seemed to know that he was their leader even though he greatly resembled them. Maybe they knew each other well enough to tell the differences?

"You wouldn't happen to have a Bulbasaur or a Charmander too, now would you?" asked Ash.

"Well, I have a Bulbasaur...and one of my friends has a Charmander, I believe." noted Lucy.

"Was that owner of that Charmander abusive?" inquired Ash Ketchum. Immediately he began to flashback when he first met his Charmander.

"Well, now that I think about it...I heard that his former Pokemon trainer had shoved him into a lake of water and forced him to fight Pokemon battles that he could not possibly win..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah...funny you should mention that...anyways, shouldn't we face the Team Rocket Grunts now? Our starters are kind of in a bad situation here...and I really need to save Pikachu!" explained Ash.

"How could we have forgotten that?" remarked Jake.

"Hurry up already! We don't have all day here!" exclaimed Butch.

"Can't we just attack their Pokemon while they're distracted?" inquired Cassidy.

"We have a code of honor for Pokemon battles that prohibits that...though personally I'm starting to wish we didn't." noted the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Fair enough." nodded the female Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, Jake's Wartortle hit Tentacool with Tackle while Squirtle hit Shellder with Water Gun.

Of course, they decided to fight back.

"Tentacool, use Poison Sting!" commanded Cassidy.

"Shellder, use Icicle Spear!" ordered Butch.

Immediately, Wartortle ended up being stung, while Squirtle got hit with several icicles.

Fortunately for Squirtle, he did not take much damage from the icicles, as he was a water type. Unfortunately for Wartortle, she did not have this luxury against poison attacks...though thankfully her shell was stronger than ever and therefore was even more resistant against physical attacks than before.

Squirtle immediately withdrew into his shell to Protect himself, while Wartortle chose to sink her teeth into Tentacool.

"Tentacool!" exclaimed the jellyfish Pokemon. Apparently that worked surprisingly well since Tentacools were almost completely composed of water and therefore lacked a skeleton.

Unfortunately for Butch and Cassidy, they both decided to dogpile Squirtle, and since he was protecting himself, this did absolutely nothing.

The dastardly duo both shook their fists in anger.

At that very moment, Jake decided to scan his new Wartortle to see what his Pokedex had to say.

"Wartortle, the Turtle Pokemon. It hides in water to stalk prey, and uses its ears to maintain balance when swimming." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"I have to admit, it's rather nice that you got a power boost." noted Jake.

At that very moment, Lucy decided to pitch in.

"Go, Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the plant Pokemon.

"Use Vine Whip!" ordered Lucy.

Bulbasaur immediately hit Shellder with vines...which proved to be effective despite his resistance to physical attacks.

"Shellder!" bellowed the shell Pokemon.

"Hit that prehistoric punk with icicles!" ordered Butch.

Shellder immediately hit Bulbasaur with icicles, doing significant damage. Unfortunately, grass Pokemon were weak against ice-type attacks...among several other things.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed Lucy.

Fortunately, she was OK.

Immediately, Bulbasaur noticed that Clefairy (along with some other Pokemon that she did not know of, but she decided that she wanted to protect anyway) had been captured, and realized what would happen if they lost.

Suddenly, she noticed how sunny it was today...and she got an idea.

Immediately, she began to absorb energy from the sun to make herself more powerful...

...and much like Squirtle before her, she began to evolve.

"Ivysaur!" bellowed Lucy's new Ivysaur.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

"Funny, my Bulbasaur once had the option to evolve...a Venusaur had set up a secret nature preserve where they could evolve quickly and easily...he declined though." noted Ash Ketchum.

"I wonder why?" inquired Jake.

"He didn't like shapeshifting, I guess." answered Ash.

"I suppose evolution isn't for every Pokemon..." nodded Lucy.

At that very moment, Ash's Squirtle hit Tentacool with another Tackle...but unfortunately she stung Squirtle in retaliation.

"Squirtle..." murmured Ash's Squirtle. Unfortunately, it appeared that he had been poisoned. Now that he thought of it, that Pokedex did warn him that Tentacools were likely to sting others when they were angry.

Now stronger than before, Ivysaur hit Shellder again...and this time, he was completely knocked out.

Butch immediately glared at Lucy as he recalled his Shellder and sent out his Primeape.

Unfortunately for Cassidy, her Tentacool was having trouble too. Both Jake's Wartortle and Ash's Squirtle had decided to gang up on her.

In fact, she could not withstand the combined assault, and she fainted.

Cassidy sighed as she recalled her Tentacool and sent out her Raticate.

"Raticate!" bellowed the rodent Pokemon.

"Right then...I think I know what to do now..." spoke Jake as he recalled his Wartortle and sent out his Machop.

Likewise, Lucy decided to recall her new Ivysaur in the favor of Pidgeotto.

"Funny, I also happen to have a Pidgeotto..." noted Ash Ketchum.

"Really?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Yeah..." nodded Ash.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, Squirtle fainted from the Tentacool's poison.

Ash Ketchum sighed. He decided to send out his Bulbasaur to make sure none of his other Pokemon got poisoned. Granted, neither Primeape or Raticate were likely capable of using a poison attack...but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Right then...try attacking them with Vine Whip!" attacked Ash.

"Bulbasaur!" nodded the Pokemon as he attacked the two Pokemon with vines.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is the way to Fuschia City, right?" asked Chris.

"Yes, I believe so." nodded Ned.

Chris and Ned happily headed towards Fuschia City. Granted, it did seem like it was going to take them a while before they arrived at their destination...but Chris was full of energy and she didn't want to give up soon.

However, they quickly realized they a problem.

"What the heck is that!?" bellowed Ned.

As it turned out, a wild Snorlax was blocking their path. It was fast asleep, and was dreaming about food.

Curious, Ned scanned it with his Pokedex.

"Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokemon. It is very lazy, and does little more than eat and sleep. It will also eat anything regardless of how moldy it is." read the Pokedex.

"OK...that's kind of gross." noted Ned.

According to the Pokedex, this Snorlax was male.

Immediately, Chris began to yell at the bulky Pokemon.

"Hey! Wake up! I don't have all day here!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Snorlax..." murmured the chubby Pokemon.

"How are we going to wake him up?" inquired the male Pokemon trainer.

"Can't we just yell at him at the top of our lungs?" asked Chris.

"I'm not sure if that's going to work...he seems to be a really heavy sleeper." answered Ned.

Chris sighed.

"I wonder if anyone has noticed this..." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"I believe that this was on the news, I believe...and I don't think it's just this one...I heard that there was another wild Snorlax blocking one of the entrances to Cycling Road..." noted Ned.

"Perfect." answered Chris sarcastically.

"Maybe if we wait a while it'll wake up and then we can go on our way..." suggested the male Pokemon trainer.

"What? But I want to get to Fuschia City now!" exclaimed the tomboy.

"I understand that...but unless we can find a way past that Snorlax, we're not going anywhere." explained the boy.

Chris sighed once more.

_Meanwhile..._

Machop immediately Karate Chopped Raticate, which did a significant amount of damage. Naturally, Raticates were weak against fighting-type attacks.

Likewise, Primeape was having a difficult time fighting Pidgeotto, as its flying attacks were super-effective as well.

"Why can't we win?!" bellowed Butch.

"This isn't fair..." murmured Cassidy.

"Says the one that takes Pokemon from others for a living." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Can't you just give us back our Pokemon? They are our friends and all..." noted Ash Ketchum.

At that very moment, Primeape and Raticate both fainted.

"Fine! But we're going to get your Clefairy and your Pikachu some day!" bellowed Butch.

Immediately, they handed them the cage containing Clefairy and Pikachu.

"Thank goodness..." murmured Ash Ketchum as they opened the cage.

"They need to get a new hobby." noted Jake.

"I'll agree with that." nodded Lucy.

"You wouldn't have happened to have shown up late to Professor Oak's lab too, now would you?" asked Ash Ketchum curiously.

"Er, no, my Clefairy just waltzed into my home uninvited...and well, I decided to adopt her." explained Lucy.

"Oh, alright then..." nodded Ash. "Anyways, I think there might be someone in trouble..."

"What? Why?" asked Jake.

"It's the man named Mr. Fuji, he barged into the Team Rocket Hideout demanding that they stop mistreating Pokemon...granted, I was tempted to do that myself...but I was worried that I would put my Pikachu in danger." explained the boy.

"That's not good." nodded Lucy.

"I sure hope that I can save him...I believe that he's currently at the Pokemon Tower...fortunately, I happen to have a Silph Scope to detect ghosts...don't ask where I got it..." explained Ash.

"Was it your mother?" asked Jake.

Ash blushed.

"Yes, it was." nodded the boy.

"Well, I think we have a Silph Scope too if that matters to you...Giovanni gave it to me as a reward for defeating him...oddly enough." explained the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Really?" asked Ash.

"Maybe he didn't need it?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, we should be able to use that to get the ghost Pokemon to leave us alone...that way they won't be able to scare us out of our wits..." noted Jake.

"Good...why would the Team Rocket Grunts take him to such a place, anyway?" inquired Lucy.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Let's go rescue him!" nodded Ash.

_Meanwhile..._

"Don't feel so bad about this, Chris. We're probably not ready to face the Fuschia City Gym Leader anyway." explained Ned.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! I can take on anything!" exclaimed Chris.

"The last time you had that attitude...you lost horribly against Giovanni." noted Ned.

Chris sighed.

"You're right...maybe I'm not ready to fight him yet." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"If you want we could try heading to Saffron City...then again I heard that the guards won't let anyone in these days..." noted Ned.

"Why not?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"I'm not really sure...they mentioned something about being thirsty." spoke the male Pokemon trainer.

"Hmm..." pondered Chris. Maybe they should try getting them something to drink?

Shrugging, she decided to head back to Celadon City to see if there was anything that they could use to offer the guards.

As it turned out, a kindly old lady was handing out free tea...seizing their opportunity, Chris and Ned went towards the Saffron City entrance and handed the grumpy guard the tea.

"Thank you so much! I'll go share this with my fellow guards...who all happen to behave and look exactly like myself." explained the guard.

"OK..." murmured Ned. Were the four guards that were formerly preventing anyone from entering Saffron City really that much alike?

However, as soon as they entered Saffron City, they realized they had a problem.

A Rocket Grunt was standing in front of the entrance.

"Get away from me!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"But we need to get inside the gym to challenge the gym leader..." explained Ned.

"Who cares about the gym leader! If you want a gym, you can enter the fighting one!" bellowed the Grunt.

Curious, Chris noticed that there was a fighting gym next to the Saffron City Gym...but according to the sign, it was unofficial and that they had lost their position after their leader was dominated by Sabrina.

"Oh dear..." murmured Chris.

"She sure sounds strong..." noted Ned.

"Anyways, get lost! You're all losers!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"It looks like we won't be able to persuade him not to block the entrance..." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

"Darn it! First that Snorlax, and now him?!" bellowed Chris.

"Why are so many Gyms being blocked off these days? First the Gym Leader of Viridian City closes down their gym, and now this..." noted Ned.

Chris sighed.

"Well, I guess we might as well go see if that Snorlax has woken up from his nap...then again, probably not." noted the female Pokemon traienr.

Why did Snorlaxes have to be such heavy sleepers, anyway?

_Back to the other duo (and their temporary companion)_

Lucy and Jake navigated the Pokemon Tower to find Mr. Fuji. Thankfully, the Pokemon Tower wasn't too hard to climb, though admittedly it was rather misty.

Sure enough, there were Ghost Pokemon inside the tower...but they were mostly more bark than bite, as most of the ghosts simply wanted to scare them and little else.

Since Lucy and Jake were both fairly brave, the Ghost Pokemon eventually decided to leave them alone.

But before they found Mr. Fuji, they found something else.

"Cubone! Cubone!" exclaimed a wild Cubone.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. He seemed rather upset about something. Then again, Cubones always seemed to be upset about something...whether it was something trivial or something serious.

"Hey, what's the matter?" inquired Jake.

Curious, Lucy decided to scan the Cubone with her Pokedex.

"Cubone, the Lonely Pokemon. It always wears its skull helmet, which is the skull of its deceased mother." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"That's really sad..." murmured Lucy.

According to the Pokedex, this Cubone was male.

"Unfortunately, Cubones always seem to lose their mothers these days..." noted Ash Ketchum.

At that very moment, the Cubone began to cry.

Thankfully, Jake decided to give it a hand. After all, they were in the same boat.

"It's OK...I know how you feel." spoke the former Team Rocket Grunt as he picked up the Cubone.

"Cubone..." murmured the lonely Pokemon. All of a sudden, he didn't feel so lonely anymore.

"You think we should...take him with us?" inquired Lucy.

"If he wants to." nodded Jake.

As it turned out, Cubone decided to go with the former Team Rocket Grunt. In this case, it was sent to the PC.

At that very moment, Jake decided to do some shuffling in the PC. Thankfully, it didn't take him too long to do so.

Between his Grimer, Raticate, Golbat, Gloom, Machop, and his Wartortle, he eventually decided to send his Raticate to Bill's PC, where the rodent found himself in Professor Oak's Lab.

He came back as fast as he could, since he needed to save Mr. Fuji and all.

"So, did you deposit another Pokemon?" inquired Lucy.

"Yes I did...Raticate's eating a lot of cheese as we speak..." noted Jake.

He decided to send out his Cubone to send him out for a test run.

"Cubone!" exclaimed the lonely Pokemon.

Suddenly, a spectral Marowak appeared...it appeared that the mother of this particular Cubone was back from the grave and was haunted the Tower.

"Funny...I heard a rumor that Team Rocket had killed a Marowak who was trying to protect her child...you think the rumors were true?" inquired Ash Ketchum.

"Maybe...it was probably a long time ago though..." noted Jake.

"What do you think it wants?" inquired Lucy.

Fortunately as it turned out, the ghost Marowak simply wanted to say farewell to her child...which in the case was Jake's Cubone.

After the Cubone and his mother gave each other a hug, the ghost Marowak vanished.

"Pika pi..." murmured Pikachu. As it turned out, there was a tear exiting his eye. Personally he wondered if he would be able to use his tears to return someone he cared about back to life one day...but that was just a wild guess.

Suffice to say, Jake's Cubone was rather unhappy that his mother was gone...but at least her spirit was finally at rest.

Once again, Jake comforted his Cubone. Personally he wondered if the spirit of his mother would visit him one day.

A few minutes later, Cubone was starting to feel better, so the former Team Rocket Grunt decided to resume his search for Mr. Fuji.

Sure enough, there were several Team Rocket Grunts at the top of the tower...along with a young woman that Jake instantly recognized. At the end of the corridor was Mr. Fuji.

"Oh no...it's Giovanni's right-hand woman..." explained the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"That's not good..." murmured Lucy.

"Oh dear..." thought Jake.

"You really shouldn't barge into our hideout uninvited, you know...we really hate it when people trespass." explained Domino.

"I just wanted you to stop hurting innocent Pokemon, that's all..." explained Mr. Fuji.

At that very moment, Domino and the Team Rocket Grunts noticed Jake, Ash Ketchum, and Lucy.

"Oh would you look at that? It's the twerp that Jessie and James kept telling me about...and that girl that Lord Giovanni wants his hands on...not to mention that Team Rocket Grunt that managed to defeat him...sheesh, what are the chances of this?" inquired Domino.

"Give us back Mr. Fuji!" bellowed Ash.

"Relax...we're just going to have a little talk with him just all. There's no need to worry your head over it." explained Giovanni's right-hand.

"Then how do you explain that?!" exclaimed Jake.

As it turned out, Domino was holding a flower that had sparks emitting from it, which she immediately hid behind her back.

"Oh that? That's just a flower. Nothing more." lied Giovanni's number two.

Ash Ketchum raised an eyebrow.

"Anyways, since you're all here...grab the boy's Pikachu, grab the girl's Clefairy, and punish the traitor for his disobedience!" bellowed Domino.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts that had accompanied Domino to the Pokemon Tower began to lunge towards the three Pokemon trainers.

"I can't believe it...Team Rocket's trying to steal my Clefairy twice in one day!" bellowed Lucy.

"Yeah...welcome to the party..." nodded Ash.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts sent out Pokemon to attack the group.

Jake's response was to use Cubone to strike an Ekans and a Grimer (much like his own) with his Bonemerang. Naturally, the bone hit both of them before returning to Cubone.

"Who would have thought that your bone could do that?" inquired Jake.

"Cubone?" inquired Cubone. Personally he was a bit surprised himself.

"I wonder how they managed to get past that spectral Marowak anyway?" asked Lucy.

"There was a ghost Marowak here?" asked Domino curiously.

"Cubone..." murmured Jake's Cubone. Why didn't they notice her?

Likewise, Lucy decided to send out her Diglett.

"Diglett!" exclaimed the mole Pokemon.

Immediately, as Lucy requested, he began to dig towards some Rattata. The Rattata found themselves in a fairly nasty earthquake after Diglett used his Magnitude attack.

"Diglett!" cheered the Pokemon.

In Ash Ketchum's case, he decided to use his Pikachu to attack some Zubat. They immediately collapsed on the ground in a heap.

Suffice to say, it became apparent that the Team Rocket Grunts really weren't much of a match for the trio, and they began to retreat.

Unfortunately for Domino, though she was considered valuable enough to Team Rocket to become Giovanni's second-in-command...she didn't actually have Pokemon of her own.

"Fine! I'm out of here! Go talk to Mr. Fuji! See if I care!" exclaimed Domino as she left the tower.

"Are you OK, Mr. Fuji?" inquired Lucy.

"I'm fine...I just wanted to see if I could get Team Rocket to give up on their cruel ways towards Pokemon...but admittedly they're probably not." spoke Mr. Fuji.

"Oddly enough I already gave up on Team Rocket just a while ago..." noted Jake.

"Well, at least one Team Rocket Grunt managed to see the light...I'm not sure about the rest though." noted the elderly man.

"I can't believe that they actually killed an innocent Marowak..." noted Ash Ketchum.

"Yes, I know...that's why I decided to consult Team Rocket about mistreating Pokemon..." explained the man.

"So, are you going to head back home now?" inquired Lucy.

"If you would like to accompany me...then yes." nodded Mr. Fuji.

_A few minutes later..._

"Well, I thank you for being there for me when I went to confront Team Rocket...I will admit that I probably shouldn't have gone to their hideout alone..." noted Mr. Fuji.

"I really wish Team Rocket would leave me alone...it seems like every day I have to deal with their shenanigans..." nodded Ash Ketchum.

"All the more reason to stop them then." agreed Lucy.

"Anyways, since you're such good-hearted Pokemon trainers, I'd like to give you a present." explained Mr. Fuji.

"Really?" asked Ash Ketchum curiously.

Mr. Fuji immediately handed Lucy and Ash two pairs of Poke Flutes. One of them was red, while the other was pink.

"You can use this to wake up sleeping Pokemon...I in particular heard of Snorlaxes that have unfortunately chosen to sleep in inconvenient locations...so I figured this might be useful to you." noted the elderly man.

"Thank you...I'm sure it will come in useful for us...I happen to know a Pokemon trainer that likes to use a Jigglypuff..." spoke Jake.

"Well, you can also use it in competitive battling...though personally I prefer simply looking after Pokemon and preventing them from getting into trouble..." explained Mr. Fuji.

"Oddly enough I used to run into a Jigglypuff myself...for some strange reason she would always show up at the most inappropriate of times...but lately she's disappeared. I hope nothing bad happened to her..." noted Ash Ketchum.

"Funny you should mention that..." answered Jake.

"She seemed rather upset that she could never find anyone that could listen to her singing without falling asleep..." continued the Pokemon trainer.

"I don't think she'll have to worry about that anymore..." spoke Lucy.

Ash Ketchum raised an eyebrow.

"I have to admit...there sure are a lot of Pokemon here..." noted Jake.

"Yeah...I took in a stray Pokemon one day...and well, I couldn't stop taking in stray Pokemon from there...mostly I stick to Pokemon that have been abused or abandoned by Pokemon trainers though..." explained Mr. Fuji.

Curious, Lucy noticed that there appeared to a Psyduck with a headache nearby...then again, Psyducks often had headaches.

Lucy scanned the Psyduck with her Pokedex.

"Psyduck, the Duck Pokemon. It is plagued by constant headaches and can use psychic powers if they get bad enough." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"I feel sorry for it." murmured Lucy.

"Mind you, you might want to give that Psyduck some space...my assistant claimed that somebody tried to snatch him from my volunteer house the other day...he also said that he wanted his former Gyarados as well..." explained Mr. Fuji.

"Funny you should mention that...I think I know that guy...he abused his Magikarp after it lost a Pokemon battle and well, it went downhill for him from there...his name was Jerry, I believe." noted Jake.

Ash Ketchum sighed. He got the feeling that he could give Jessie and James a run for their money in impulsive behavior.

Curious, Lucy began to wonder if there was a way to get Psyduck to believe that she was his friend.

"Oddly enough he actually wasn't abandoned by any Pokemon trainers in the past, he just showed up in the volunteer house one day...and well, since then, he didn't want to leave." explained Mr. Fuji.

Getting an idea, Lucy applied an icepack to Psyduck's head.

"Psyduck!" cheered the duck Pokemon. All of a sudden, his head was feeling much better.

He had to admit, it was rather scary when that boy grabbed him when he wanted a Pokemon...but at least not all Pokemon trainers were like that.

"There...is your head feeling better?" inquired Lucy.

"Psyduck!" cheered the duck Pokemon.

As a matter of fact, he wanted to go with Lucy. He had to admit, he enjoyed the volunteer house...but he felt like he had been there for ages, and he wanted to go somewhere else.

"Psyduck!" exclaimed the Psyduck.

"I think he wants to come with me..." noted Lucy.

"What? Funny...I never really thought of having somebody adopt a Pokemon at my volunteer house before...but I suppose he can go with you if he approves of it." explained Mr. Fuji.

Psyduck happily entered Lucy's Pokeball.

Of course, this meant that Lucy was going to have to sent another Pokemon to the Daycare Center.

"Hmm, should I choose my Clefairy, my Pidgeotto, my Butterfree, my Ivysaur, my Vulpix, or my Diglett?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Eventually, she decided to send her Butterfree to the Pokemon Center.

"Hmm...I'm starting to wonder if I should get out my Kadabra again...I'm starting to get the feeling that his psychic powers are going to come in handy for something..." noted Lucy.

Then again, she was just guessing.

After saying farewell to Mr. Fuji, Lucy decided to welcome her new Psyduck.

Sure enough, he was no longer clutching his head.

At that very moment, Ash Ketchum decided to leave.

"Well, thanks for helping me take care of Team Rocket...now if you excuse me I'm going to keep on training so that I can win the Indigo League Tournament. I can't wait for it!" explained Ash.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Pikachu.

"Farewell." nodded Jake.

"Well, it was fun travelling with him while it lasted." noted Lucy as he left.

"I guess it's just the two of us for now...you think we should try heading to Fuschia City now? We might be able to use that PokeFlute to wake up that Snorlax..." spoke Jake.

"Psyduck?" inquired Lucy's Psyduck.

"But we might get attacked..." warned Lucy.

"I'm sure that we'll be ready if that happens." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"If you think we're ready, then I'm all for it!" nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then...let's get going." agreed Jake.

Immediately, the two Pokemon Trainers headed to Route 7 so that they could continue their Pokemon journey.

Hopefully, the sleeping Pokemon wouldn't give them too much trouble.

_Well, it looks like our heroes are on their way to Fuschia Gym...also, they have a couple new Pokemon as well. Will they give them a hand when they take on Koga? And will they catch more Pokemon along the way?_

_Find out in the next chapter of A Typical Pokemon Journey!_


	31. Chapter 31: Sleeping Snorlax

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to try to wake up that Snorlax that insists on blocking them...will they succeed?_

_Oh, and our four heroes are going to be battling each other..._

**Chapter 31: Sleeping Snorlax**

Unfortunately for Chris and Ned, the sleeping Snorlax was still there when they returned.

"Darn it! Why won't he leave!" exclaimed Chris.

"He sure is a heavy sleeper." noted Ned.

However, at that very moment, Lucy and Jake arrived on the scene.

Sure enough, they noticed the sleeping Snorlax.

"You think now's the time to use it?" inquired Lucy.

"Now seems as good of a time as any." nodded Jake.

Immediately, Lucy pulled out the Poke Flute and began to play it.

"What are you doing?" asked Chris curiously.

"I think she's trying to wake up the Snorlax." noted Ned.

Sure enough, the Snorlax slowly began to wake up and began to yawn.

"Did it work?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I think so." nodded Jake.

Immediately, the Snorlax's stomach began to grumble, and he realized that he was hungry.

Suddenly, he noticed one of Chris's Pokeballs, and mistook it for an apple.

"What the-" asked Chris curiously.

Immediately, he tried to put the "apple" in his mouth, but he ended up activating the capture device instead.

Due to the fact that he was a sleepyhead, he did not put up much of a fight against the Pokeball, and he ended up being captured.

"OK..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about him blocking the way now..." noted Ned.

"What good is a sleepy Pokemon going to do me though? He's probably going to fall asleep during battles if I try to use him." noted Chris.

"Well, maybe you could try consulting Professor Oak on the subject." suggested Ned.

"Yeah...personally I wonder how my two Pokemon are doing there..." noted Jake.

Chris sighed and decided to head to the PC in the nearest Pokemon center...which was in Vermillion City.

Sure enough, Oak seemed rather happy to see her.

"Hey there...would you mind taking this Snorlax for us? He's eating me out of my lab..." explained Professor Oak.

Sure enough, there was Snorlax, who was eating all the food in sight.

Chris sighed.

"Fine..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Curious, she began to think of a Pokemon that she could replace...personally she wondered why Pokemon trainers were always limited to six Pokemon.

"Hmm..." she thought.

Curious, she sent out her Jigglypuff, her Fearow, her Nidorino, her Charmeleon, her Parasect, and her Gastly.

After a while, she decided to choose Parasect.

"See you at Oak's Lab!" exclaimed Chris.

Parasect waved farewell as he was sent to a creepy-looking nature preserve. Apparently it was supposed to represent a nocturnal forest environment...which was rather fitting considering the fact that Parasect was half-mushroom.

"What good is a Pokemon that spends all day eating and sleeping anyway?" wondered Chris.

Curious, she decided she wanted to test it out...on Jake.

"I haven't battled him in a while...now seems as good a time as any." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, she challenged him to a battle a few minutes later.

"Alright then..." nodded Jake.

Immediately, Jake chose to send out his Wartortle...while Chris chose to send out...

...her new Snorlax.

"Snorlax..." murmured the chubby Pokemon as he woke up from a nap.

"So...do you care to show me what you've got?" inquired Chris.

Her request was abruptly answered when Snorlax suddenly slammed into Wartortle.

"Wartortle!" bellowed the water Pokemon as she was swept off her feet.

"Whoa...he's really strong!" exclaimed Jake.

"That explains why other Pokemon don't attack him even though all he does is sleep all day." noted Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Wartortle hit Snorlax with Water Gun, but this didn't really seem to phase him.

"Snorlax?" murmured the gluttonous Pokemon.

Snorlax began to yawn, which caused Wartortle to yawn as well.

"What is he doing?" inquired Jake curiously.

Shortly afterwards, Wartortle began to fall asleep.

"What? No! Wake up!" ordered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Unfortunately, Wartortle was already in Dreamland.

This gave Chris the opportunity for Snorlax to hit Wartortle with another Body Slam, knocking her out cold.

"Wow...you sure are strong, you know that? I'm impressed...and I'm not impressed too easily either." noted Chris.

"Snorlax." smiled the chubby Pokemon.

Personally it would be rather nice if he could take a nap after the Pokemon battle was over...but if his Pokemon trainer was proud of him for being an efficient battler...then why not battle some other time?

Uncertain of his chances against Snorlax, Jake decided to send out another Pokemon...in this case, his Gloom.

"Do you think you can do this?" inquired Jake.

"Gloom!" exclaimed Jake's Gloom.

However, she quickly noticed that her Pokemon trainer seemed rather worried. Was something upsetting him?

Curious, she looked around, and noticed how big her opponent was...and how heavy he seemed to be.

"Gloom..." murmured Jake's Gloom. Her Pokemon trainer had every right to be concerned.

"Clefairy..." muttered Lucy's Clefairy. Why did she get the feeling that Jake was in big trouble?

"You can do this, Jake!" exclaimed Lucy.

Knowing that Snorlaxes typically enjoyed sleeping...Jake decided to hit the opposing Snorlax with Sleep Powder to see if he would fall asleep...which he did.

"Yes!" cheered Jake.

Now maybe he would be able to take down the opposing Pokemon with ease.

But as he found out, no such luck. Snorlax immediately began to snore...and when he did so, Gloom ended up being knocked off her feet.

"He can attack my Pokemon while he's sleeping?!" exclaimed Jake in astonishment.

"He's full of surprises." murmured Chris.

"Snorlax..." murmured the chubby Pokemon in his sleep. Evidently, he was dreaming about food.

"Gloom, pelt him with Acid!" exclaimed Jake.

Gloom nodded as she did so...but unfortunately, Snorlax wasn't too phased by that attack either.

"Try snoring again." suggested Chris.

Chris's Snorlax once again snored, and Gloom ended up collapsing on the ground.

"Gloom..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Darn it! That Snorlax is really strong..." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Chris smiled. Apparently it was secretly a blessing that Snorlax mistook one of her Pokeballs for an apple.

Jake sighed as he recalled his Gloom and sent out his Machop.

"Here's hoping that she'll be able to do the job..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Machop began to flex her tremendous muscles.

Snorlax simply yawned once again. Was it naptime?

"Try using Low Kick!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Machop did so...and Snorlax found himself being walloped.

"Snorlax!" bellowed the chubby Pokemon.

"Oh dear...it looks like she found his weak point." noted Ned.

"What?!" exclaimed Chris.

Realizing that he was now in a bad situation, Snorlax went to sleep...and started replenishing his health.

"Phew! He's healing!" cheered the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's not good..." noted Lucy.

Fortunately for Jake, Machop was surprisingly able to lift Snorlax...though it wasn't too easy for her.

Immediately, she picked up Snorlax...and sent him flying several feet.

Snorlax landed very hard...since the bigger a Pokemon was, the harder they fell...well...

"Snorlax..." murmured the Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Chris, Snorlax had finally fainted.

"Well, I didn't want this battle to be too easy anyway..." noted Chris as she recalled her new Pokemon.

It was time to send out her Fearow.

"Go, Fearow!" exclaimed Chris.

"Fearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

Machop frowned. Facing a flying-type wasn't going to be a fun experiece.

"I don't think tossing will work..." noted Jake. Obviously, Fearow would simply be able to fly back to the ground when tossed.

Fortunately for Machop, she was feeling rather strong after taking down that ferocious Snorlax.

In fact, she was starting to feel the urge to get stronger still.

Suddenly, she began to be enveloped with energy.

"Are you evolving?" inquired Jake.

Machop nodded...sure enough, she evolved...

Into a Machoke.

"Machoke!" bellowed the macho Pokemon.

"Congratulations, Machop!" cheered Jake.

Machoke began to flex her muscles...which were even bigger than before.

"Where did you get that belt?" asked Lucy curiously.

Machoke shrugged...but she got the feeling that belt was rather important...so she decided it was best to keep it on.

Jake scanned his new Machoke with his Pokedex.

"Machoke, the Superpower Pokemon. It is so physically strong, it must wear a belt to regulate its motions." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"Well, that explains why the evolution came with a belt." noted Jake.

"I sure don't want to know what will happen if we remove it..." spoke Lucy.

"Yeah..." agreed Ned.

Machoke immediately Karate Chopped Fearow...unfortunately for Chris, due to Fearow being part Normal type, he was not resistant against fighting attacks.

Fortunately for Fearow, she was able to copy Machoke's Karate Chop attack using Mirror Move, and Machoke fell to the ground. How a bird was able to karate chop a Pokemon with its wings, the world of Pokemon may never know.

Machoke helped herself back to her feet as she prepared to attack once more.

Wanting some payback against her opponent, Machoke decided to get revenge...by using the move of the same name.

Unfortunately for Fearow, since he was rather fast, this meant that Machoke did double damage with the technique, and he fainted.

"Darn it! You didn't even take out a single Pokemon..." murmured Chris.

"Fearow..." apologized Chris's Fearow.

"Well, I suppose I couldn't have predicted Machop evolving so suddenly either..." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she recalled her flying-type.

"Now that I think of it...yes, I know how to deal with you! I'll send out Gastly!" bellowed Chris.

"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

All of a sudden, Lucy and her Clefairy began to shiver with fear.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Why was Chris using such a scary Pokemon? Then again she wasn't the type to get scared easily.

"Right then...Gastly, use Lick!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Gastly immediately licked Machoke in the face...much like a Growlithe. It was very unpleasant.

"Machoke..." murmured the muscular Pokemon.

Jake immediately instructed Machoke to get revenge on Gastly...

...only for her hands to simply go through Gastly.

"Machoke?" inquired the fighting Pokemon.

"Oh dear...it looks like your fighting attacks are simply going to go right through him." explained Chris.

"That's not good..." thought Jake. How was he supposed to defeat Gastly if fighting attacks didn't do a thing against ghost-types?

"I guess being made of gas has its benefits." noted Ned.

"If Gastly is immune to fighting attacks...then Machoke is in big trouble." nodded Lucy.

Gastly once again licked Machoke in the face...and this time, she was paralyzed with fear.

"Machoke!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon.

"It's time for me to switch to something else." spoke Jake as he recalled his Machoke.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Golbat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon.

"Gastly, try using Curse..." spoke Chris.

Chris's Gastly immediately used Curse...and well, Golbat got cursed.

"Gol!" exclaimed Jake's Golbat. All of a sudden, he got the feeling that he was in trouble.

However, Gastly was feeling weak after using such a move.

"Funny...doesn't a Pokemon usually increase their attack and defense when they do that?" questioned Ned.

"Not with Ghost types, apparently." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. This was a bit confusing.

She decided that it was best not to dwell on it...otherwise she'd just end up hurting herself.

Fortunately for Golbat, he was able to finish Gastly off with a Bite...which curiously enough did not simply go through Gastly.

"Gastly..." murmured the ghost Pokemon. Apparently he wasn't scary enough to defeat Golbat...then again, considering that Golbats had bad eyesight, they probably weren't scared too easily.

Recalling Gastly back into her Pokeball, Chris began to think of a Pokemon that she could use to defeat Golbat.

"I'll use Nidorino, I guess." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

Personally, Lucy wondered if she was going to evolve her Nidorino one day. All Chris would need is a Moon Stone...wherever she could find one of those.

"Golbat, use Confuse Ray!" exclaimed Jake.

Golbat immediately used Confuse Ray on Nidorino to make him feel confused.

"Nidorino..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

Chris sighed. Now she was going to have to switch out for another Pokemon so that Nidorino didn't beat himself up.

Chris immediately recalled Nidorino and sent out Charmeleon.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Golbat, use Wing Attack!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Golbat immediately hit Charmeleon with a gust of wind...but he was alright.

Immediately, Charmeleon roasted Golbat with Ember in retaliation.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon.

Golbat was burned.

"Gol..." murmured Jake's Golbat.

Golbat once again hit Charmeleon with Wing Attack...but this time it didn't do as much damage. Charmeleon smirked in satisfaction.

Charmeleon immediately used Scary Face as Chris instructed on Golbat, paralyzing him with fear.

"Yes!" cheered Chris. "Now if only my Gastly tried that..."

Charmeleon then finished Golbat off with yet another Ember.

Jake sighed. He was running out of Pokemon...and unfortunately his Wartortle had already fainted from that assault from Chris's Snorlax...so he wouldn't be able to use her against Charmeleon.

Fortunately, he remembered that he still had Cubone, and decided to give him a shot.

"Go, Cubone!" exclaimed Jake.

"Cubone!" smiled Jake's Cubone.

"Huh? Was that Pokemon in Pokemon Tower? I may have seen one or two...but I'm not sure..." noted Ned.

"Cubone, use Bone Club!" exclaimed Jake.

Jake's Cubone nodded and hit Charmeleon with his bone...really hard.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Cubone bone!" cheered Jake's Cubone.

Charmeleon began to rub his head. That bone really hurt.

"Char..." murmured Charmeleon.

"Use Ember!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Charmeleon hit Cubone in retaliation...but unfortunately, he managed to use his club to shield himself from the flames.

"Oh dear..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Jake then instructed Cubone to use Bonemerang...it hit Charmeleon once, knocking the breath out of him...

...then returned to Cubone, knocking out Charmeleon in the process.

"Charmel..." murmured Charmeleon.

Chris sighed as she recalled her Charmeleon...she was a bit embarrased that she had lost to a Pokemon so young.

And unfortunately, her Nidorino was weak against ground-type Pokemon.

Chris sighed as she sent out Nidorino.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Use Double Kick!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Nidorino hit Cubone twice in succession, causing him to cry.

"Cubone! Bone bone!" bellowed Cubone.

"Oh dear...he can't take many hits before he cracks up, can he?" questioned Lucy.

Unfortunately, Cubone wasn't in the mood to fight anymore.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to use Grimer now..." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt as he recalled his Cubone.

"Grimer!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon as he oozed out of his Pokeball.

"Use Sludge!" ordered Jake.

Grimer hit Nidorino with Sludge, which unfortunately didn't do much damage.

Nidorino hit Grimer with Double Kick in retaliation...but unfortunately that didn't do much damage either.

"Well, this might be a war of attrition..." noted Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Jake.

Eventually, after a minute or two or fierce battling...

...Grimer was able to come out the victor.

"Well, it's time for me to send out Jigglypuff now." nodded Chris as she recalled her Nidorino.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the balloon Pokemon.

Jigglypuff immediately used Sing to put Grimer to sleep, but he covered his ears...wherever they were.

Grimer hurled Sludge at Jigglypuff, but she moved out of the way.

Jigglypuff began to slap Grimer into submission, causing him to feel woozy.

Grimer once again hurled sludge, and this time, Jigglypuff was hit.

"Jigglypuff..." murmured Chris's Jigglypuff.

Immediately, Chris's Jigglypuff began to sleep in order to heal herself.

"You're falling asleep? That's rather ironic." noted Chris.

Fortunately, Jigglypuff was a light sleeper and she woke up shortly afterwards...though unfortunately Grimer was able to get another shot in or two in the meantime.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered the balloon Pokemon.

The two Pokemon kept at this for a while...slapping each other in the face while Grimer hurled sludge at his opponent...Jake and Chris kept on telling them to do this...

However, due to only one of the Pokemon having the ability to heal themselves, Jigglypuff ultimately came out on top.

Jake sighed. He never seemed to be able to defeat Chris. Then again, considering that he had heard that Chris had lost against his former boss and was crushed about it, he supposed that he shouldn't be too upset.

"Right...should we head to Fuschia City?" asked Chris.

"Can I have a Pokemon battle too?" asked Ned curiously.

"I already battled with you not too long ago." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well, yeah...but I think my Pokemon could use some experience..." noted her partner.

"If you say so." nodded Chris.

Naturally, Lucy volunteered to battle Ned, since Jake had already lost to Chris and needed to take his Pokemon to the Pokemon Center.

Before they did so, Ned went to the Pokemon Center to swap out his Growlithe with his Geodude. Since Geodude was a ground-type, it would be rather effective against the Fuschia City Gym Leader. He was a poison-type master...right?

"Right then...I guess I'll test out my new Psyduck." answered Lucy.

"I'll send out my Pikachu then." nodded Ned.

"Uh-oh..." thought Lucy. It looked like his first battle wasn't going to end well.

"Psyduck?" inquired Lucy's Psyduck as he was sent out from his Pokeball. He didn't really seem to know what was going on.

"Go, Pikachu!" exclaimed Ned.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Pikachu.

"Use Water Gun." ordered Lucy.

Psyduck immediately squirted water at Pikachu...but this didn't seem to hurt him very much.

"Psyduck." murmured Psyduck.

"Use Thundershock!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Pikachu immediately hit Psyduck with electricity...which gave him a headache.

"Psy yi yi yi yi yi!" exclaimed Lucy's Psyduck.

Immediately, Psyduck pressed the button on Lucy's Pokeball to retreat from the battlefield.

"I suppose I shouldn't send a water type against an electric type anyway..." noted Lucy.

Instead, she decided to send out her little friend, which in this case was her Diglett.

"Go, Diglett!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Diglett!" cheered the mole Pokemon.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" ordered Ned.

Pikachu hit Diglett with Thundershock...

...but he didn't feel anything at all.

"Diglett?" inquired the mole Pokemon.

"Oh yeah, that's right...electric attacks don't hurt ground-type Pokemon...just like ghost Pokemon are immune to normal and fighting attacks..." noted Ned.

Ned immediately switched out his Pikachu for his Weepinbell.

"Weepinbell, Vine Whip!" ordered Ned.

Weepinbell immediately whipped Diglett as soon as he was released from his Pokeball. He began to feel rather weak.

"Dig...lett..." murmured Lucy's Diglett.

He had to admit, it would be rather nice if he received backup...he couldn't exactly defeat Weepinbell alone.

However, as it turned out, luck was on his side.

Suddenly, two Diglett sprouted out of the ground.

"Er, where did you come from?" inquired Lucy.

The Digletts looked to where Diglett's Cave was.

"Oh, right." recalled the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, they went up to Diglett, and all of a sudden, they all began to glow with energy.

"This is a bit of a strange evolution..." noted Jake.

As it turned out, the three Diglett (Lucy's included, of course) had all evolved...into Dugtrio.

"Trio trio trio!" bellowed Dugtrio.

"Well, it looks like I have three Pokemon rather than one now...I guess." noted Lucy.

Lucy scanned her new Dugtrio with her Pokedex.

"Dugtrio, the Mole Pokemon. A team of Diglett triplets that can burrow sixty miles underground." read Lucy's Pokedex.

"Interesting..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Dug trio!" bellowed the three Diglett triplets.

Immediately, Dugtrio hit Weepinbell with Magnitude, which did a surprising amount of damage.

Then again, Weepinbell was part Poison type.

Unfortunately, Vine Whip was still super effective, and Dugtrio began to feel significantly weakened.

"Trio..." murmured Dugtrio.

"Dugtrio, keep using Magnitude!" ordered Lucy.

Dugtrio did so, and this time Weepinbell actually fainted.

"Weepinbell..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

Ned sighed as he recalled his Pokemon. He almost managed to defeat Dugtrio, too...

But no matter. Surely there was another Pokemon that he could use to defeat Dugtrio...wasn't there?

Suddenly, a lightbulb appeared on Ned's head.

"I know! I'll just use Gyarados!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Where did that lightbulb come from?" asked Jake curiously.

"I don't know...but I guess I'll keep it...you never know." answered Ned as he stuffed the lightbulb in his backpack.

"Now then, where was I? Ah yes." remembered Ned.

Immediately, he threw Gyarados's Pokeball.

"Gyarados!" bellowed Ned's Gyarados.

"Dugtrio..." murmured Lucy's Dugtrio. All of a sudden, he was in trouble.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Gyarados to take down Dugtrio...in fact, he fainted in just a few seconds.

"Dugtrio..." murmured Lucy.

Sure enough, all three of the Diglett triplets had swirls in their eyes. For some strange reason, they all seemed to have a psychic connection, so they all fainted simutaneously.

"This is a bit weird..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Recalling her Dugtrio, the female Pokemon trainer began to search for a Pokemon that she could use to defeat Gyarados.

"Let's see now..." she thought.

Surely she should have at least at one Pokemon that would stand a chance against Gyarados, right?

Eventually, she settled on Ivysaur.

"Go, Ivysaur!" bellowed Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that since Gyarados was part flying...he wasn't going to take that much damage from grass-type attacks.

But at least they would do something.

"Ivysaur, use Vine Whip!" bellowed Lucy.

Ivysaur began to whip Gyarados with vines, causing him to roar.

"Oh dear...I think I'm made him angry." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Don't make a Gyarados angry...you won't like them when they're angry." spoke Ned.

"Yeah..." nodded Chris. Jerry really should have known better than that.

"Ivysaur..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

Gyarados began to thrash Ivysaur in retaliation.

"Ivysaur!" bellowed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Hang in there!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I have to admit, it's really nice having a strong Pokemon on my side..." noted Ned.

"Gyarados!" cheered the water Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Ned, Lucy had a trick up her sleeve.

"Use Sleep Powder!" ordered Lucy.

Immediately, Ned's Gyarados fell asleep.

"What?" inquired the male Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Gyarados was taking a snooze.

This gave Ivysaur the opportunity to continue attacking Gyarados.

Speaking of which, she had a few new moves to use.

Immediately, Gyarados was bombarded with several razor-sharp leaves...he immediately found himself covered with cuts and scrapes.

"Keep at it, Lucy!" exclaimed Jake.

"I guess it's not restricted to melee anymore..." noted Chris.

However, this curiously wasn't enough to wake him up.

"Nice!" cheered Lucy.

Ivysaur then followed by knocking Gyarados to the ground...though unfortunately she hurt herself in the process.

"Ivysaur..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

But on the lighter side of things...this was enough to make Gyarados faint.

"Gyara..." murmured the water type.

Ned sighed. Personally he was hoping that Gyarados would last a little longer...but it looked like he was simply going to have to rely on other Pokemon to win.

Curious, he decided to send out Pikachu.

"Go, Pikachu!" exclaimed Ned.

"Pika pi!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon.

Immediately, Ned instructed Pikachu to use Quick Attack.

This caused Ivysaur to immediately faint.

Lucy sighed. Apparently, that battle with Gyarados had weakened Ivysaur considerably, to the point where one attack was enough to do her in.

It looked like she was going to have to send out a different Pokemon...

Suddenly, her Psyduck popped out of her Pokeball.

"Psy yi yi yi yi yi!" bellowed the duck Pokemon.

"Psyduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately, it looked like she was stuck using Psyduck for the time being.

Ned smiled. It looked like he had the upper hand this time.

Immediately, he instructed Pikachu to use Thundershock.

"Psy yi yi yi yi yi!" bellowed Psyduck. For a water-type, being zapped by electricity was not fun.

However, as a side-effect, Psyduck ended up getting a headache.

"Are you feeling OK, Psyduck?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Psyduck used Disable on Pikachu.

"Pika...pi..." murmured Pikachu. All of a sudden, he wasn't able to use Thundershock anymore.

"Hmm, it looks like he's activated his psychic powers." thought Jake.

"That's not good news for Ned...is it?" asked Chris.

"Nope." nodded Jake.

Still unable to use electric attacks, Pikachu then found himself being hit by Confusion.

"Pikachu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

It must have been rather powerful, because Pikachu ended up fainting.

"Psyduck!" cheered the water Pokemon.

"Congratulations, Psyduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

Ned sighed. For a moment there he seemed to be doing well...but unfortunately it appeared that he had gone too far and gave Psyduck a migraine.

Ned sighed. He only had three Pokemon left at this point. Hopefully his third-to-last Pokemon would be able to turn things around.

Shrugging, he decided to send out Nidorina. Hopefully she wouldn't be so headache-inducing. Then again, she was rather poisonous.

"Go, Nidorina!" exclaimed Ned.

"Go, Nidorina!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Nidorina!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Psyduck no longer had a headache, so he could not use his psychic powers anymore.

"Use Scratch!" ordered Lucy.

Unfortunately, Psyduck did not do much damage against Nidorina.

"Oh dear...Psyduck isn't very good at battling, is he?" questioned Jake.

"He only seems to be really effective when he has a headache...though I will admit he is still a challenge for fire-types." noted Chris.

Nidorina immediately poisoned Psyduck in retaliation.

"Psyduck..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Exhausted by its scuffle with Pikachu earlier, Psyduck fainted.

"Well, it looks like I have three Pokemon left now..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she sent out Vulpix.

"Go, Vulpix!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Vulpix!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Funny, your fire Pokemon reminds me a bit of mine..." noted Ned.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird...I heard that some Pokemon trainers always find a Growlithe in the wild and some always find a Vulpix..." noted Jake.

"How odd." noted Lucy.

Nidorina immediately hit Vulpix with Fury Swipes.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

Apparently, she had hit her five times in succession.

"Good to see that you can attack your opponent so quickly..." noted Ned.

However, Lucy's Vulpix successfully petrified Nidorina with Roar.

"Nidorina!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

And as it turned out, she had a nasty trick up her sleeve.

Immediately, Nidorina found herself being toasted by Vulpix's Flamethrower.

"Nidorina..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

"Well, it's a good thing I have a rock-type." noted Ned as he sent out his Geodude.

"Geodude!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

Immediately, Ned instructed Geodude to use Magnitude.

Sure enough, Vulpix found herself being hurt by a fairly powerful ground-type attack.

She fainted.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

"It's a good thing that you keep learning new moves, huh Geodude?" inquired Ned.

"Great, now you might have a chance of winning for a change." noted Chris.

Geodude nodded. In fact, she got the feeling that she was going to learn new moves soon...

But at the same time, she got the feeling that something else was about to happen.

Immediately, Lucy sent out Pidgeotto.

"Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately, Pidgeottos were naturally weak against Geodudes, but it would have to do for now.

"Use Whirlwind!" commanded Lucy.

Immediately, Geodude found herself being spun around like a record.

"Geodude!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

Pidgeotto then followed up with Wing Attack. Thankfully, though Geodude was literally rock-hard, this didn't hurt her much.

"Geo...dude..." murmured Ned's Geodude.

It quickly became apparent that despite the type advantage, Geodude was getting pummeled.

"This isn't good..." thought Ned.

However, as it turned out, Geodude had a way out of this.

Suddenly, she began to evolve.

"Here comes another evolution!" smiled Ned.

"Congratulations." nodded Lucy. It was nice to see one of her friend's Pokemon was evolving, though admittedly this put her at a disadvantage.

As it turned out, Ned's Geodude has evolved into a Graveler.

Ned scanned his new Graveler with his Pokedex.

"Graveler, the Rock Pokemon. It rolls down slopes to move, and will roll over any obstacle without changing direction." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Well, you sure have gotten a lot bigger..." noted Ned.

"Graveler!" cheered Ned's Graveler.

Immediately, she broke free of Pidgeotto's Whirlwind.

Suddenly, she went up to Pidgeotto...

...and Self-Destructed.

"Pidgeo!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Lucy.

When the smoke settled, Pidgeotto and Graveler had both fainted.

"Wow, that was one heck of an explosion..." murmured Jake.

"I think it was awesome." answered Chris.

Recalling both of their Pokemon, Ned and Lucy realized that it was just their Eevee and their Clefairy.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned as he tossed Eevee's Pokeball.

"Go, Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy as Clefairy climbed off her back.

"Eevee!" bellowed Ned's Eevee.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

Clefairy immediately opened up with a Focus Punch from her Metronome...

...but unfortunately, Ned's Eevee interrupted it with Take Down.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy.

"Hang in there!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy tried again, this time using Karate Chop...which hit Eevee and significantly injured him.

Of course, he had already been injured by that Take Down attack...but Ned's Eevee could live with that.

Once again, Ned's Eevee hit Clefairy with Take Down...

And in a shocking turn of events...

Lucy's Clefairy fainted.

"Yes! I finally won against one of my friends! Sorry, am I getting too arrogant?" inquired Ned.

Chris sweatdropped.

"Well, to be honest, I was starting to get worried about you...I wouldn't want you to lose all the time..." noted Lucy as she handed Ned a generous supply of Pokedollars.

"Well, even if I didn't win...my Geodude still evolved, so that was a victory in itself." noted Ned.

"True..." nodded Jake.

"Can we get going to Fuschia City now? I think we might be ready for it." noted Chris.

"Sure, why not. Just let us go to the Pokemon Center." stated Lucy.

After one of our two heroes and one of our two heroines had healed their Pokemon, it was time to get moving.

As they did so, Lucy began to wonder what was waiting for them at Fuschia City. She had heard there was a Safari Zone there...

"I can't wait to catch some more Pokemon..." she thought.

_Well, it looks like our heroes are on their way to Fuschia City...of course, if they wanted to, they could also try heading to Saffron City and take down all the Rocket Grunts in Silph Co...but they won't be doing that yet..._

_For now, our four heroes are going to Fuschia City...and while they're at it, one of them's going to try fishing...try to guess which one._


	32. Chapter 32: Gone Fishing

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to head to Fuschia City...and one of our heroes is going to catch a Pokemon while fishing..._

_Oh, and Ned will run into the Magikarp Salesman again...will he fall for his tricks like before?_

**Chapter 32: Gone FIshing**

Once again, Ned found himself encountering a familiar-looking salesman.

"Hey there! How would you like a fishing rod?" inquired the fishing salesman.

"A fishing rod?" asked Ned curiously.

"Yeah! It's all yours for just five hundred Pokedollars!" exclaimed the salesman.

Said fishing rod in question looked rather beat up...Ned doubted he could catch much with it.

"You're trying to trick me, aren't you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

The Magikarp Salesman sighed.

"Please! I have a wife and three kids! I'm broke! I need money to support them! Please buy my fishing rod!" bellowed the salesman.

"Well, when you put it that way..." answered Ned.

Ned reluctantly gave the Magikarp Salesman five hundred Pokedollars in exchange for the rod.

"Heh heh...what an idiot." thought the Magikarp Salesman. Once again, it was like taking candy from a baby.

Curious, Ned began to fish with the Old Rod. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch anything other than Magikarp.

He sighed.

As for the Magikarp Salesman, he simply went to look for another victim. As it turned out, he wasn't the only Pokemon trainer in the immediate area.

"Well, at least my Pikachu is getting experience..." thought Ned.

Sure enough, Pikachu was enjoying zapping the water Pokemon with Thundershock.

"Excuse me...can I ask you why you're using that old rod?" inquired a nearby fisherman.

"The Magikarp Salesman said that he had a wife and three kids...so..." answered Ned.

"I'm afraid that he was lying through his teeth...he doesn't even have a girlfriend." explained the fisherman.

Apparently, this particular fisherman was well aware of the Magikarp Salesman and his phony services.

Ned sighed.

"No matter. I've got just the rod for you." explained the fisherman.

Immediately, the fisherman handed Ned a much less beat-up rod...apparently, he would be able to use to catch more Pokemon.

"Thank you." answered the male Pokemon trainer. It was good to see that not all fishermen were like the Magikarp Salesman.

Sure enough, Chris came on the scene.

"Hey, what's that rod you got there?" asked Chris.

"The fisherman said that we could use to try fishing." explained Ned.

Curious, Chris dropped the Good Rod in the water to see if she could catch a Pokemon.

Surprisingly enough, she caught a Pokemon almost instantly.

"Shellder!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"Um, hey there..." murmured Chris.

Shellder immediately blew a raspberry at Chris. She sighed.

"Aren't you a cheeky fellow." remarked the female Pokemon trainer as she scanned Shelder with the Pokedex.

"Shellder, the Bivalve Pokemon. Its hard shell can repel any attack, and it is only vulnerable when its shell is open!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"Interesting..." noted Chris.

Also, this particular Shellder was female.

Curious, she decided to send out Snorlax to deal with Shellder.

"Shellder?" inquired Shellder curiously.

Immediately, Chris had Snorlax Body Slam Shellder, paralyzing her instantly.

"Shell...der..." murmured the shell Pokemon.

Chris then threw a Pokeball to catch Shellder. She was enveloped with a red light. Chris smiled when the Pokeball dinged.

"Well, I'm going to have to replace one of my Pokemon with her now..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she went back to Vermillion City to see if there was any Pokemon that she could replace. As usual, she had Jigglypuff, along with Fearow, Nidorino, Charmeleon, Gastly, and Snorlax.

As it turned out, her new Shellder was in a fish tank.

"Shellder!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Also, Parasect was still in the nature preserve.

This time, Chris decided to send Fearow to Professor Oak's Lab.

"I'm sure they have a nest for Fearow somewhere..." noted Chris.

"Fearow!" exclaimed Chris's Fearow as he was sent to the laboratory.

"I already had a normal type in Snorlax anyway...so..." remarked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Shellder!" exclaimed the shell Pokemon.

"Hey there! Welcome to the party, I guess." explained Chris.

Shellder licked Chris in the face.

"Huh, I guess she likes me." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Once again, Shellder blew raspberries at Chris.

"You sure are confident in yourself, huh?" inquired the tomboy.

Shellder nodded.

"Well, so am I!" exclaimed Chris.

Shellder once again licked Chris in the face.

"Well, she sure seems happy that I'm her new Pokemon trainer..." thought the teenage girl.

Of course, she already had a battle with Ned not too long ago, so she probably wouldn't be able to give her a test run just yet.

Then again, there were other Pokemon trainers that she could battle, right?

Now that she thought of it...wasn't there a Magikarp Salesman that kept conning people out of their money that had scammed Ned not too long ago? She got the feeling that he was still somewhere nearby.

Then again, she wasn't sure that he was actually a Pokemon trainer. It was worth a try, right?

Curious, she decided to see what he was planning. No doubt he was up to no good.

Sure enough, he was once again trying to sell Magikarp to unsuspecting Pokemon trainers, telling them that they were invincible and that other Pokemon trainers would dread facing them in a Pokemon battle if they had one.

She was not amused. Once again, he was lying through his teeth.

"Hey Shellder...why don't you do me a favor...and shoot icicles at him or something...you are part ice type, are you not?" inquired Chris curiously.

Shellder nodded, and she immediately started shooting icicles at the conman.

"What the-hey! Cut that out!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.

Sure enough, the Pokemon trainers that were purchasing Magikarp from the salesman began to wonder what was going on.

They eventually decided to leave since apparently there was an aggressive Pokemon on the loose, and they didn't want to be in his path.

"Nooo! Come back to me!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman. By the looks of it, he was rather shocked that his clients were running away from him.

"Looks like we've got him." thought Chris.

Unfortunately, the Magikarp Salesman noticed the tomboyish Pokemon trainer. He wanted revenge for thwarting his latest scheme...which admittedly he had used several times before in the past.

"You! You ruined me! I'm going to make you pay!" exclaimed the salesman.

"Oh dear..." thought Chris. To be honest, she wasn't really expecting the Magikarp salesman to try to take revenge on her...but since she wanted a Pokemon battle, it was just as well.

Sure enough, the Magikarp Salesman pulled out six Pokeballs.

"Oh, would you look at that...he's got six whole Pokemon...just like me..." thought Chris.

"Go, Magikarp!" bellowed the salesman.

"Wait, you're using Magikarp against me?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

"Use Splash!" exclaimed the Magikarp salesman.

Magikarp began to splash...but it did absolutely nothing.

Chris instructed Shellder to tackle Magikarp in retaliation, and it instantly fainted.

"Grr! You're still going to lose! Go, Magikarp!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.,

"Magikarp!" bellowed the fish Pokemon.

"Seriously?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

"Use Tackle!" ordered the Magikarp salesman.

Magikarp immediately tackled Shellder...but since she had very high defense, this didn't do much damage at all.

"Shell shell shell!" laughed the bivalve Pokemon. That tickled.

Shellder tackled Magikarp, and he fainted too.

"This is too easy..." thought Chris.

"Go, Magikarp!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.

"Seriously?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

As usual, Shellder managed to make Magikarp faint easily.

"Go...Magikarp." said the Magikarp salesman as he sent out yet another Magikarp.

"You really need a more diverse set of Pokemon." spoke Chris as Shellder made yet another one of his Magikarp fainted.

"Magikarp...you can still do this..." spoke the salesman.

Unfortunately, Magikarp couldn't pull it off.

"Well, it looks like you're up a creek without a paddle, heh heh." thought Chris.

Curious, the Magikarp Salesman looked at his last Pokeball...

...and suddenly he began to smile.

"What's so funny? Do you think your last Magikarp is going to do any better?" asked Chris curiously.

"Who said that it was a Magikarp?" inquired the Magikarp salesman.

"Huh?" inquired Ned curiously.

"Go, Gyarados!" bellowed the conman.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"Uh-oh..." thought Chris.

All of a sudden, it became apparent that the Magikarp salesman might have a way to turn things around.

"Well, at least it's part flying, so Icicle Spear will be partly effective against it...use Icicle Spear!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Shellder immediately hit Gyarados with several icicle spears, but unfortunately, this didn't hurt Gyarados too much.

In retaliation, Gyarados used Thrash on the unfortunate Shellder.

"Shellder!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Fortunately, since Shellder's defense was high, this didn't harm her too much.

Unfortunately for Shellder, after a few rounds of this, Gyarados was eventually able to overcome Shellder.

"Shellder..." murmured the water Pokemon.

On the plus side of things, Gyarados seemed rather exhausted from all those icicle spears.

"Gyara...dos..." murmured the ferocious Pokemon.

"Well, you managed to defeat five of his Pokemon, so I'm pretty sure we still have a chance of winning this." explained Chris.

"Shellder!" cheered the bivalve Pokemon.

Shrugging, she decided to send out Gastly...he seemed as good of a candidate to defeat Gyarados as any.

Unfortunately for Gyarados, once a Gyarados began to Thrash, it was very difficult for them to stop.

Of course, since Gastly was a Ghost type, he didn't feel the thrashes at all.

"Gast?" inquired the ghost Pokemon.

"I don't think we're going to need to use Confuse Ray...he's going to confuse himself on his own...though I will admit that it's nice that you've learned that technique...it could come in useful later." explained Chris.

"Gas..." spoke the ghost Pokemon.

"Say, why don't you use Curse? That way he won't be able to stop losing HP..." suggested Chris.

Gastly nodded, and immediately cursed himself so that Gyarados would take periodic damage.

Sure enough, Gyarados became confused, and began to attack himself.

"What? No!" exclaimed the Magikarp salesman.

Eventually, Gyarados fainted, and Gastly smiled in satisfaction.

"Great! Now scare him senseless!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Gastly immediately scared the Magikarp Salesman, causing him to drop all the cash he had stolen from Pokemon trainers recently.

"Aah!" screamed the Magikarp salesman, fleeing from the hills.

"Well, that should teach him a lesson about deceiving Pokemon trainers, wouldn't you say?" asked Chris curiously.

"Gastly!" nodded the gas Pokemon.

"Say, I wonder how Ned's doing...I admit I haven't seen him for a while..." noted Chris.

_A few minutes later...at a nearby route..._

"Oh dear...I think I went too far away from Chris..." thought Ned.

Apparently, he had gotten a bit carried away in heading to Fuschia City...

He began to scratch his head.

"I didn't go too far from her, did I?" questioned the boy.

Suddenly, he began to hear someone screaming. He appeared to be running away from something.

He looked around, and discovered that it was none other than the Magikarp salesman.

"Hey there...what seems to be the problem?" inquired Ned.

"I need to get to the nearest Pokemon center! And there's a ghost Pokemon on the loose! Run away!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman as he ran towards Fuschia City.

"A ghost?" asked Ned.

Curious, Ned recalled that Chris had a Gastly on her side...could it be that was what he was referring to?

He also stated that he needed to get to the nearest Pokemon center...did he face Chris in a Pokemon battle and lose?

"So she is still nearby...thank goodness, I don't want to go too far from her...she's usually there to bust me out of a nasty situation..." thought the male Pokemon trainer.

Now, if only he had a Pokemon that he could use to bail him out of this mess.

Suddenly, a wild Venonat popped out of the bushes.

"Hmm?" asked Ned curiously.

Ned scanned the wild Venonat with his Pokedex.

"Venonat, the Insect Pokemon. Its compound eyes act as radars, and it is attracted to light." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Interesting..." thought the male Pokemon trainer.

This particular Venonat was female.

Curious, he began to wonder if he could use Venonat to help him search for Chris...the Pokedex did say that her eyes could be used as a radar.

"Excuse me...could you help me find someone I'm looking for? She happens to dress in black...and she has black hair, too." explained Ned.

Curious, Venonat began to use her eyes to see if she could locate the person that the boy was searching for.

As it turned out, yes, she could.

"Venonat!" exclaimed the gnat Pokemon. She began to jump up and down very high.

"Really? You found her?" asked Ned curiously.

Venonat immediately began to head to Chris. Ned began to follow her.

Sure enough, there she was, using a Revive and a Super Potion on her Shellder.

"There...back on your feet." said Chris.

"Shellder!" cheered the female Pokemon trainer.

"I have to admit, these supplies I got from the Pokemon Mart were useful...then again, I haven't been there too much." thought Chris.

It was a bit of a shame really...considering that she was getting a lot of cash from defeating all those Pokemon trainers.

"Chris!" exclaimed Ned.

"Ned?" asked Chris curiously.

"There you are! I was worried that I lost you for a second!" exclaimed the boy.

"That explains why I haven't you seen you for a while...where did you go?" asked the teenage girl curiously.

"I was trying to head to Fuchsia City...and I wasn't paying attention..." explained Ned.

"Oh dear..." murmured Chris.

"Fortunately, I had a wild Pokemon help me out...I have to admit, her compound eyes sure came in handy." noted the nerd.

"Do you think it wants to be your Pokemon?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"Do...you?" asked the boy.

Venonat thought about this for a moment...and nodded.

"Alright then." nodded Ned as he used his Pokeball to catch Venonat.

"Funny, I was expecting a Pokemon battle or something." thought Chris.

"Didn't your Snorlax mistake your Pokeball for an apple?" asked the boy curiously.

"Oh yeah." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Of course, in order to make room for Venonat...Ned was going to have to send one of his Pokemon to the Pokemon Center.

"Which one?" thought the boy curiously.

Curious, he sent out his Eevee, his Nidorina, his Weepinbell, his Graveler, his Gyarados, his Pikachu, and

"Hmm..." he thought.

Shrugging, he decided to send Weepinbell to Professor Oak's Lab. Suffice to say, she was rather upset that her Pokemon trainer was sending her away.

"Don't worry Weepinbell, I'll be back for you one day, I promise." spoke Ned.

Weepinbell reluctantly said farewell to Ned as she was sent to one of Professor Oak's many Pokemon nature preserves.

"If only I could find a Leaf Stone somewhere..." thought the male Pokemon trainer. It would be rather nice if he could evolve his Weepinbell into a Victreebel. That way he would have a powerful fighting force on his hands.

For now, he wanted to test out his new Venonat.

"Do you see that Magikarp Salesman around? I'm a bit worried that he might get revenge on Chris." asked the male Pokemon trainer curiously.

Curious, Venonat looked around, and noticed that the Magikarp Salesman was not too far away. As it turned out, he was fishing for more Pokemon.

"Venonat!" exclaimed the insect Pokemon.

"Hmm, it appears that he's gone fishing." noted Ned.

"Really? Is he going to sell them for Pokemon trainers?" asked Chris.

"Either that, or he's plotting his revenge against you." explained the male Pokemon trainer.

"Heh. Good luck with that." remarked the female Pokemon trainer.

According to Venonat, he had managed to catch a Tentacool, a Poliwag, a Horsea, and a Krabby. By the looks of it, he was building a Pokemon army...but unlike Lt. Surge's Pokemon army, it was predominantly water type.

"Yeowch!" exclaimed the Magikarp salesman.

Apparently, said Krabby was pinching him with his pincers.

"Krabby krab!" bellowed the crab Pokemon.

"Get it off me!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

Fortunately, he was able to catch the Krabby in his Pokeball.

"There, I've finally caught enough Pokemon to get revenge on that meddling little girl for ruining my business..." murmured the conman.

"You!" exclaimed Ned.

"Um...hey there..." said the salesman.

"Don't give me that! I'm tired of you scamming Pokemon trainers out of their hard-earned cash! Cut it out!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then...go, Pikachu!" bellowed the boy.

"Go, Krabby!" exclaimed the Magikarp salesman.

Happy to finally have an opportunity to get revenge on the Magikarp salesman, Ned scanned the Krabby with his Pokedex.

"Krabby, the River Crab Pokemon. Its pincers are excellent weapons, and they can also be used for balance." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Say, your Pokemon all wouldn't happen to be water-types, would they?" asked Ned curiously.

"They are, why?" asked the Magikarp salesman.

"Then you're going to have a field day, Pikachu." stated the male Pokemon trainer.

"Pika pi!" cheered the mouse Pokemon.

Immediately, Pikachu bombarded Krabby with Thunderbolt.

"Krabby!" bellowed the crab Pokemon as he fainted.

"Wow...would you look at that...I guess you've finally upgraded your Thundershock, huh Pikachu?" inquired Ned.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Pikachu. He also happened to have access to a slamming technique...but since he was dealing with Pokemon that he was super-effective against, he decided not to use it for the time being.

Gasping in astonishment, the Magikarp Salesman returned his new Krabby back to his Pokeball and sent out his Horsea.

"Horsea!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Ned scanned the Horsea with his Pokedex.

"Horsea, the Dragon Pokemon. It is well-known for shooting down bug Pokemon with blasts of ink from the water's surface." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Guess using Venonat is a no, then." thought the male Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Horsea shot ink at Pikachu, but he avoided.

Once again, Pikachu hit his opponent with Thunderbolt...Horsea could not tolerate this assault and she fainted as well.

"Good thing he doesn't have a ground-type Pokemon...right?" thought Ned to himself.

"Go, Tentacool!" exclaimed the Magikarp salesman as he sent out his Tentacool.

"Tentacool!" bellowed the jellyfish Pokemon.

Immediately, before Pikachu could react, he stung and poisoned him.

"Pika pi..." murmured Pikachu.

Deciding to let Pikachu have a brief rest (since he was poisoned), Ned decided to send out his Venonat to temporarily battle the Magikarp Salesman instead.

"Venonat!" exclaimed the insect Pokemon.

"So, what moves do you have?" asked Ned curiously.

Venonat immediately hit Tentacool with Psybeam, much to his astonishment.

"Tentacool!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"Oh, you have Psybeam...I bet that will be useful." noted Ned.

"Veno!" cheered the bug Pokemon.

Tentacool tried to poison Venonat in retaliation...but since Venonat was a poison type herself, this didn't work at all.

"Nat?" asked Venonat curiously.

Ned instructed Venonat to hit Tentacool with Psybeam once again, and he fainted.

"Good job, Venonat!" cheered Ned.

Venonat happily leapt into the air once again...apparently she was a very good jumper.

Ned recalled Venonat so that he could once again use Pikachu...though he was poisoned, he was now feeling somewhat better.

"Go...Poliwag..." murmured the Magikarp salesman.

"Poli!" exclaimed Poliwag.

Ned scanned the Poliwag with his Pokedex.

"Poliwag, the Tadpole Pokemon. Its freshly developed legs prevent it from walking well, so it typically relies on swimming instead." read Ned's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Poliwag was having a hard time keeping balance.

Poliwag shot bubbles at Pikachu, but he ducked underneath them, and shot Poliwag with Thunderbolt.

"Poliwag..." murmured the tadpole Pokemon as he fainted.

"Sheesh, you're starting to remind me of Jerry...you wouldn't happen to be his father, now would you?" murmured Chris.

"Who is Jerry?" asked the Magikarp salesman curiously.

"Never mind." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Once again, the Magikarp Salesman sent out Magikarp.

"Magikarp!" bellowed the Magikarp.

"Really? Again?" asked Chris curiously.

The Magikarp Salesman sighed. Apparently he should try replacing Magikarp with a Goldeen or something.

He instructed Magikarp to use Tackle, but Pikachu hardly felt it.

Unsurprisingly, Ned ordered Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on Magikarp, and he fainted as well.

Now, all that was left was Gyarados.

Immediately, the Magikarp Salesman sent out his strongest Pokemon to defeat Pikachu once and for all.

"Finally! Now I can finally get revenge on that black-haired girl for humilating me!" bellowed the salesman.

"Um, there might be a problem with using that particular Pokemon against Pikachu." explained Ned.

"Huh?" asked the conman curiously.

"You see, Gyarados happens to have a quadruple type disadvantage against electric Pokemon..." explained the male Pokemon trainer.

"What are you saying?" asked the Magikarp salesman curiously.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt to demonstrate." spoke Ned.

Sure enough, Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at Gyarados, and he fainted almost instantly.

"What? No!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you." answered the nerdy Pokemon trainer.

The Magikarp Salesman groaned. He had been defeated by one of the Pokemon trainers that he had conned in the past.

"Hopefully this will teach you a lesson about swindling Pokemon trainers out of their cash...though admittedly if it weren't for you I wouldn't have met my Gyarados..." noted Ned.

"This isn't over! I'm going to continue my business! I'll be a millionaire one day!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman as he retreated, dropping more of the cash he had scammed innocent Pokemon trainers in the process.

"Well, he's probably going to be back...but at least I'll be ready for him...right Pikachu?" asked the boy curiously.

"Pika pi!" nodded the mouse Pokemon.

"Don't worry about him, Ned. As long as he keeps using water-types, he's not going to be a match for us." spoke Chris.

"If you say so." agreed Ned.

Still, he was worried that he was going to try to scam other Pokemon trainers out of their Pokemon...

_A few minutes later elsewhere..._

"Would you look at all the Pokemon here..." spoke Lucy.

"It's nice that they made a Pokemon zoo." nodded Jake.

As it turned out, there were many different Pokemon on display, most of which were rather rare.

Ironically enough, one of them happened to be a Clefairy, much like her starter Pokemon.

Clefairy eagerly waved at her fellow Clefairy. She seemed to enjoy being in the local zoo, though the wild Clefairy longed to explore outer space.

"I wish I had one of these..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Fuchsia Gym was in sight. According to the sign, the Gym Leader was Koga, the Poisonous Ninja Master.

Jake wondered if he should tell Lucy to bring her Kadabra. Then again, she already had a Dugtrio.

"Should we...go inside?" asked Jake curiously.

"In a moment, I want to do some sightseeing." answered Lucy.

"Alright then." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

Personally he was particularly interested in heading to the Safari Zone...he heard that there were a lot of Pokemon located there...it would be nice if he managed to catch one of them.

Of course, Lucy would likely be interested in doing so as well...maybe he should tell her about the zone?

Then again, she might have already heard of it.

Meanwhile, the Magikarp Salesman was looking around for another Pokemon trainer to deceive. He was rather unhappy that two Pokemon trainers in a row had managed to defeat him in a Pokemon battle, one of which was one that he had managed to trick earlier...

However, he noticed a Pokemon trainer nearby that was well off (and had a Clefairy), and suddenly he got an idea.

"Hey there, little girl! How would you like an offering of a lifetime?" asked the Magikarp Salesman.

Lucy looked at the conman curiously.

"An offering...of a lifetime?" asked Lucy curiously.

Immediately, the Magikarp Salesman pulled out what appeared to be a Clefable.

"Give me a thousand Pokedollars and your Clefairy and she's yours!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

"No thanks. My Clefairy's been my friend since forever! I can't just trade her for another Pokemon at the tip of a hat." explained Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she got the feeling that he was trying to trick them.

The Magikarp Salesman frowned.

"Alright then...you can just go on your way now...though if you want I can also throw in a free Pokeball..." murmured the Magikarp Salesman.

Immediately, he held out what appeared to be a Pokeball.

However, Clefairy noticed that the "Pokeball" had eyes, and realized what it actually was.

She immediately swatted it away.

"Voltorb!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

Immediately, it self-destructed in the Magikarp Salesman's face.

"Aargh!" bellowed the Magikarp Salesman.

At that very moment, Lucy decided it was time to leave. That exploding Voltorb seemed rather ominous.

The conman sighed as he unzipped the Clefable costume his Magikarp was wearing. He was hoping that he would be more successful at scamming a wealthy Pokemon trainer, but it looked like today simply wasn't his day.

"No matter. I'll always have more Pokemon trainers to scam...I'll never run out of them! Ever ever ever!" bellowed the Magikarp salesman.

Immediately, he went to search for more victims.

_It's the return of the Magikarp Salesman! Yes, I know it's a bit surprising that he returned...but who said that he had to be a one-shot character?_

_And yes, he needs to learn more about balancing out your Pokemon team...using one type of Pokemon is just looking for trouble...just ask the Gym Leaders. Heh heh._

_Of course, our four heroes are using a fairly diverse set of Pokemon...so they seem to be in rather good shape, wouldn't you say?_

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going cycling! And no, it won't involve an aesop involving recycliny, heh heh. I really suggest that you do so though. Wouldn't want to get in trouble for littering._


	33. Chapter 33: Bicycle Ride

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to visit the Cycling Road...you know, ride a bike and all that._

_After all, for some strange reason, most Pokemon games involve a player riding a bike...heh heh heh._

_Well, let's go Lucy and Jake ride their bicycles!_

_Oh, and Chris and Ned are going to agree to help solve a problem that the Safari Warden has._

**Chapter 33: Bicycle Ride**

Knowing that the Gym Leader in Fuschia City liked to use poison types, Lucy decided it was in her best interest to use Kadabra.

Of course, in order to do that, she was going to have to send one of her Pokemon to the PC so that she could withdraw him.

"Let's see now..." thought Lucy.

Immediately, she sent out her Clefairy, her Pidgeotto, her Vulpix, her Ivysaur, her Dugtrio, and her Psyduck.

Unsurprisingly, her Butterfree and her Kadabra were both at Professor Oak's Lab. She immediately waved at them.

Eventually, she settled on sending her Ivysaur to the laboratory for the time being. After all, grass Pokemon were weak against poison-types.

Then again, Ivysaur was a poison-type herself.

"See you later, Ivysaur! I'll be back for you...once I manage to defeat Koga..." spoke Lucy.

"Ivysaur!" bellowed the dinosaur Pokemon as it was sent to Professor Oak's Lab.

"Well, welcome back, Kadabra." stated Lucy as she withdrew Kadabra and opened his Pokeball.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon. It was good to see his old Pokemon trainer. He had to admit, it was rather nice to be with another intellectual...but he was glad that he had the opportunity to once again participate in a Pokemon battle.

Curious, our heroes noticed that up ahead there appeared to be a Cycling Road of some sort.

"Interesting..." thought Jake.

Apparently, they were going to need their bicycles in order to get across.

But they realized they had a problem.

"Not another Snorlax!" exclaimed Lucy.

Fortunately, they had a Poke Flute to deal with this particular Snorlax.

"Well, here's hoping there's only two Snorlaxes in Kanto..." thought Jake.

"There could be three..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Maybe..." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked a familiar voice.

As it turned out, it was none other than Ash Ketchum.

Lucy and Jake smiled, happy to see a friend of theirs.

"There's another Snorlax blocking the road..." stated Lucy.

"You have a Poke Flute to deal with it, don't you?" asked Ash curiously.

Jake nodded.

Lucy immediately began to play on the Poke Flute, and the Snorlax began to wake up.

Unlike the other Snorlax however, this one was a bit more energetic, and it actually wanted a Pokemon battle.

Ash Ketchum immediately sent out his Pikachu to battle Snorlax.

Unfortunately, Snorlax proved to be a difficult opponent, using his bulk to attack Pikachu. He was also rather resistant to Pikachu's electric attacks.

It appeared that Pikachu wasn't going to be able to defeat Snorlax alone.

Fortunately, Lucy decided to step in with her Clefairy...which hit Snorlax with Low Kick.

"Snorlax!" bellowed the chubby Pokemon as he collapsed on the ground.

This gave Pikachu the opportunity to paralyze Snorlax.

Knowing that Snorlax would not go inside a Pokeball easily, Ash elected to toss an Ultra Ball instead.

This did the trick, and Snorlax was captured.

"Well, here's hoping that no Snorlax is going to block our path for a while..." stated Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

"Well, you shouldn't have any problem using the Cycling Road now...you do have bikes, right? I know I have mine!" exclaimed Ash Ketchum.

"Yeah, we do." nodded Jake.

"Of course, I am stuck paying off my debt to one of my friends for destroying one of her bikes..." spoke the boy.

"Sorry to hear that." answered Lucy.

"Well, if you need me, I'll be at Celadon City." said Ash as he climbed on his bike.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Ash's Pikachu.

Immediately, Ash and Pikachu headed towards Cycling Road.

"Should we follow him?" asked Jake curiously.

"Well, it'd be nice to get to try out our bikes for a change." nodded Lucy.

"Yeah." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

Sure enough, there was a guard standing in the building leading to said road...

"You better have a bike, kids, or I'm calling the authorities!" bellowed the guard.

"Of course we do!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Why would we head to Cycling Road without a bike?" asked Jake curiously.

"Oh...well, never mind then. You can go on ahead." answered the guard.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake began to ride their bikes across Cycling Road.

For a while, they began to enjoy it...it seemed that riding on their bicycles was a pleasant experience...

But unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to end up encountering a biker gang. Some things in life were simply too good to be true.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing on our turf?!" bellowed one of the bikers.

"Um, hey there..." answered Lucy.

"You think you can just trespass whenever you feel like it?!" exclaimed another one of the bikers.

"Oh dear..." murmured Jake.

Immediately, the bikers began to send out their Pokemon.

"It looks like we're going to have to fight our way out of this." spoke Lucy.

"Looks like it." nodded Jake.

Jake chose to use his Cubone, while Lucy chose to use her Psyduck.

"Go, Cubone!" exclaimed Jake.

"Cubone!" bellowed the cub Pokemon.

"Go, Psyduck!" shouted Lucy.

"Psyduck." spoke Psyduck as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

Unfortunately for the bikers, they chose to use Pokemon that were weak against those particular Pokemon.

One of the bikers sent out a Grimer, while one of the other bikers sent out a Geodude.

Suffice to say, it looked like they had the advantage at the moment.

Jake immediately instructed Cubone to use Bone Club, while Lucy instructed Psyduck to use Water Gun.

This worked rather well. Grimer immediately ended up being dizzy, while Geodude instantly fainted.

"Geodude!" bellowed the unfortunate biker.

Immediately, the biker ran away on his bicycle, leaving behind some money as he did so.

Unfortunately, the bikers weren't going to give up that easily. One of the other bikers decided to challenge Lucy as well...and he sent out a Machop.

"I guess it's not going to be that easy." thought Lucy.

Then again, at least her Pokemon were apparently going to get experience.

The biker immediately instructed the Machop to Karate Chop Psyduck.

"Get him!" bellowed the biker.

"Psy yi yi yi yi!" shouted Psyduck as he was chopped.

Apparently, he was developing a headache.

Then again, considering that his psychic powers were activated whenever his head hurt, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

As for Grimer, he was still dizzy from being hit by a club.

Jake naturally decided to take advantage of it, and he instructed Cubone to hit Grimer again.

This time, Grimer could not withstand the assault and he was knocked out cold.

"Dang it!" bellowed the biker as he recalled his Grimer.

Much like the biker that had previously battled Lucy earlier, he began to ride away on his bicycle.

Another biker then challenged Jake to a Pokemon battle...this time, he had a Tentacool.

"Oh dear...this might be a more difficult opponent." noted Jake.

"Cubone..." murmured Cubone.

Granted, Tentacool happened to be a poison type, so Cubone's ground attacks would be super effective. However, since Tentacool was a water type, its water attacks would be super effective against Cubone.

The only question was who attacked who first.

Unfortunately, the biker made the first move, since he was rather impatient.

"Use Constrict!" ordered the biker.

Immediately, Cubone found himself being wrapped by Tentacool's tentacles.

"Cubone bone bone!" exclaimed Cubone. Unsurprisingly, he wanted Tentacool to let him go.

Fortunately, this didn't actually prevent him from attacking...though admittedly the tentacles hurt.

However, this meant that unless Cubone managed to free himself, Jake wasn't going to be able to switch out his Pokemon.

For now, he was just going to have to stick with the cub Pokemon.

"Use Headbutt!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Cubone immediately headbutted Tentacool...but that wasn't quite enough to make Tentacool release him.

Fortunately, rather than use a water attack, Tentacool instead tried to poison Cubone.

Since Cubone was a poison type, this didn't hurt him too much.

"I guess he's not really aware of type advantages..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Meanwhile, Machop had triggered Psyduck's headache, much to the disadvantage of the former Pokemon trainer.

It simply did not occur to him to attack the Psyduck somewhere other than the head...though admittedly Psyducks had rather large heads.

"Use Confusion!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Psyduck nodded, and Machop found himself taking super effective damage.

"Machop!" bellowed the macho Pokemon.

Machop found himself taking a large amount of damage...and to make matters worse, he had been confused. Unfortunately for him, psychic attacks had a tendency to do that.

"Machop..." murmured the macho Pokemon.

Instead of attacking Psyduck, he ended up attacking himself instead.

"C'mon! You're smarter than that!" bellowed the biker.

Psyduck followed by letting out a scary Screech. Lucy noted that he didn't need to wag his tail to make his foes lower their defense anymore.

This scared the heck out of Machop, who was now trembling with fear, and he did not attack at all.

"What? You're braver than that!" bellowed the biker.

Finally, Psyduck finished off Machop with another round of Confusion.

Much like the biker before him, he decided to retreat.

Likewise, Cubone had managed to defeat his opponent by repeatedly headbutting him. Fortunately, since he was wearing a bone helmet, he was not hurting himself doing so.

"I have to admit, that bone helmet sure comes in handy." noted Jake.

Cubone nodded. At least her mother gave him a decent farewell present before she went.

Of course, now that he thought of that...

"Cubone bone bone! Bone!" cried Cubone.

"Oh dear...I think you need a break inside your Pokeball." noted Jake as he recalled Cubone.

Cubone smiled as he went back to his Pokeball. At least his new foster parent seemed to understand him.

"Let's see now...something tells me that these bikers are going to keep coming...so I'm going to need to prepare for the worst..." thought Jake.

Sure enough, not long after the biker fled on his bicycle, even more bikers came to take their place.

They all seemed to look meaner than the last.

"Well, it's only a matter of time before their leader shows himself...right?" thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Meanwhile, Psyduck was feeling exhausted from using his psychic powers extensively. On the plus side, he had managed to defeat his opponent.

The biker retreated, leaving behind a tougher-looking biker to take his place.

"I'll get you for what you did to my buddy!" bellowed the vicious looking biker.

"Oh dear...things are starting to get intense." thought Lucy.

Apparently she was going to need to send out a stronger Pokemon.

In this case, she decided to use her Vulpix.

"Go, Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Vulpix!" bellowed the fox Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

Unfortunately for Lucy, the biker decided to use a rock-type...which in this case was Onix.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

"Well, this doesn't look too good..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turned out, Jake had a similar problem...he had decided to send out his Wartortle...but unfortunately, his opponent was using a Voltorb.

"Got you now!" shouted the biker.

"Hmm..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Fortunately, he was still somewhat in luck, as electric Pokemon weren't resistant to water-type attacks...though admittedly water-types were still vulnerable to electricity.

"Use Bubble!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Wartortle immediately hit Voltorb with an enormous bubble, that burst in its face.

"Voltorb!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

Immediately, Voltorb hit Wartortle with Sonicboom in retaliation.

Fortunately, since Wartortle had a fair amount of HP, this didn't hurt her too much.

"That's a relief." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"I'm going to beat you!" bellowed the biker.

"Don't be so sure...I actually seem to be winning against you guys, in case you haven't noticed." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Grr!" shouted the troublemaking biker.

Fortunately for Lucy, Vulpix had managed to get the upper hand on Onix by using Roar to paralyze him.

"Onix..." murmured the rock snake Pokemon.

Also, she had managed to hit Onix with Confuse Ray...so he was beating himself up.

"Onix..." murmured the snake Pokemon.

Of course, he had managed to hit Vulpix with Rock Throw in the meantime...but Vulpix wasn't hurt too much...though admittedly rock-types were super effective against Vulpix.

Eventually, Onix fainted, and the biker rode away on his bicycle.

Lucy noticed that Jake had defeated his opponent as well...and it looked like they were home free.

"Did we win?" asked Jake curiously.

"No, you have not." answered a voice.

As it turned out, the leader of the bikers had arrived on the scene. Unlike his subordinates, he happened to have a goatee, though he shared a mohawk like the other bikers. Also, he had a scar over his right eye.

"Here's Johnny!" bellowed the biker. Apparently, for some strange reason, the leader of the bikers was named Johnny...or a variation thereof.

"Help us, boss! We're getting pulverized out here!" exclaimed the biker.

"Really? I honestly expected more from you...how could you lose against a bunch of children?" asked the leader of the bikers curiously.

"Well, they had four different gym badges..." noted another one of the bikers.

"So what if they have four badges? Big deal! I'm going to pulverize them once and for all!" exclaimed the biker.

"You had better get ready, Lucy." warned Jake.

Immediately, the biker sent out his prized Pokemon...which in this case, were a Graveler and a Tentacruel.

Jake scanned the Tentacruel with his Pokedex.

"Tentacruel, the Jellyfish Pokemon. Its eighty tentacles are normally kept short, but are extended on hunts to ensnare and immobilize prey." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"Wow, this Pokemon has eighty tentacles?" inquired Lucy curiously.

"Apparently." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Fortunately, Lucy was able to switch out her Vulpix for her Kadabra. She was going to need to make sure that she was ready.

Likewise, Jake decided to send out his Machoke. He wanted to make sure that he was ready too.

"Right then...let's finish this, shall we? It's time for you to learn some respect!" exclaimed the biker.

"If you ask me, you need to learn some respect for the law." stated Jake.

By the looks of it, the bikers had spent their time writing graffiti...they said things such as "The Tough Tentacools were here" and "Officer Jenny is a loser."

"Who cares about the law? Anyways...Tentacruel, Water Pulse! Graveler, Rock Slide!" ordered Johnny.

Immediately, rocks fell on top of Kadabra and a strong pulse of water hit Machoke.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

"Machoke!" exclaimed the fighting Pokemon.

"It appears that this guy is a bit tougher than his subordinates..." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

"Darn right!" bellowed Johnny.

Fortunately, Kadabra was a bit stronger than when Lucy last used him. He immediately used Psybeam on Tentacruel in retaliation, which did a significant amount of damage.

"Tentacruel!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

And of course, Machoke was able to get her revenge on Graveler...by using Revenge, naturally.

"Graveler!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

"C'mon! Don't tell me you're going to lose against some meddling kids!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Well, your little friends already lost against us..." noted Jake.

Johnny facepalmed.

Tentacruel immediately Constricted Machoke, while Graveler used Magnitude on Kadabra.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

Thankfully, it wasn't a big Magnitude, though Kadabra was hurt regardless.

As for Machoke, she was able to break free, which wasn't very surprising considering how strong she was.

Kadabra fired a Psybeam at Tentacruel while Machoke used Revenge on Graveler once again...and the two Pokemon both fainted.

Johnny gasped in shock. How could he have lost to two little kids? Apparently the bikers weren't kidding when they said that the duo had four Gym Badges each...though he wasn't really sure how they got those.

"Grr...fine, you win! But we'll be back one day! Just you wait!" exclaimed Johnny.

With that, Johnny sped off to Celadon City.

"Do you think he'll be back for us?" inquired Lucy.

"Maybe...he's probably going to be a thorn in our side...must like Jessie and James...or Butch and Cassidy..." noted Jake.

"That's too bad." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"But I think we'll be ready if he comes back...though admittedly we should probably bring some friends so that we won't get outnumbered." suggested the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh yeah..." nodded Lucy.

"Either that, or we should try evolving our Pokemon." noted Jake.

On the mention of evolution, Kadabra and Machoke started to tell their trainers something.

"What? You want us to trade you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

"Why would we do that?" asked Jake curiously.

Kadabra and Machoke sighed.

"I don't know...I'm not exactly used to giving Pokemon away..." noted Lucy.

Kadabra and Machoke sighed once again.

"I suppose we could try it after we battle the Fuschia City Gym Leader...however well that goes." answered Jake.

Kadabra and Machoke began to cheer.

"Should we try trading you both with each other?" asked Lucy curiously.

Kadabra and Machoke nodded.

"OK then..." agreed the female Pokemon trainer.

"We could also try trading our Pokemon with Ned and Chris." noted Jake.

"Maybe some other time." answered Lucy.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Chris and Ned wanted to get inside the Safari Zone so that they could catch some Pokemon.

"I've been looking forward to this!" exclaimed Chris. Hopefully the Pokemon at the Safari Zone would be rather strong. Then again, all the Pokemon trainers that ever visited the Safari Zone seemed to be fairly powerful Pokemon trainers themselves.

"Yeah, me too! I can't wait to add some more Pokemon to my Pokedex!" bellowed Ned.

"Right..." nodded Chris. Personally she was more interested in battling than filling out her Pokedex...though it was nice using her Pokedex to determine a Pokemon's strength and weaknesses.

On the way there, they noticed a nearby building with a sign next to it. Curious, Ned decided to read the sign to see if it belonged to somebody.

According to the sign, it was a house that belonged to a man by the name of Baoba.

"Interesting..." thought Ned.

Intrigued, Chris decided to read the sign as well.

"I guess that's the guy whose in charge here." noted Chris.

"Let's pay him a visit, shall we? He might be able to teach us where to find rare Pokemon." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

"If you say so." nodded his partner.

Immediately, they entered Warden Baoba's house to pay him a visit. It would nice to have a chat with him, wouldn't it?

However, as soon as they entered the house, they immediately realized that the warden had a problem.

"Huffo thir! Guh to saa yuh! Heff yuh saan meh dunturrs?" asked the warden curiously.

"Huh?" asked Chris.

As it turned out, it appeared that his dentures had gone missing. Now he was basically all gums.

Unsurprisingly, he was currently suffering from a massive speech impediment.

"Hmm..." thought Ned. Somehow, he got the feeling that the dentures had gone missing somewhere.

Where could they have possibly gone? Apparently the warden wanted them back...but they had no idea where to look for them.

"Plushh! I rully neeh thum beck! I'd rully appruhshuhiate ut!" exclaimed the warden.

Chris got the feeling that the warden wanted her help with something, but she wasn't quite sure what.

Were there Pokemon poachers at the Safari Zone? Were the wild Pokemon being abducted by aliens? Was an evil Mankey trying to steal his bananas?

Unfortunately, she simply could not understand what he was saying. To her, it was all gibberish. Clearly they were going to need to communicate some other way.

Fortunately, Chris had an idea.

"Could you care to write down what you're saying so that we can understand you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

The safari warden smiled. Why hadn't he thought of that before? It looked like he was in luck when the duo arrived.

Baoba nodded at Chris's request, and began to write down what he wanted to tell the two. He immediately held it out so that they could both read the message.

"So, let me get this straight...you lost your pair of golden dentures somewhere in the Safari Zone, and now you're completely unable to find them?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

The safari warden nodded.

"That's not good...now how are people going to talk to you?" asked Ned.

Baoba shrugged. He wasn't quite sure of that question himself. He simply could not speak properly.

Curiously enough, the safari warden mentioned seeing a youngster the other day...he seemed rather excited that his dentures were golden. In fact, he thought for a second that money symbols appeared in his eyes.

"Interesting..." murmured Chris.

"Why would you have golden dentures, anyway? Wouldn't normal dentures do the trick?" asked Ned.

Baoba shrugged once again. He just liked valuable objects, he guessed. Maybe he was like a Meowth?

He also mentioned that he thought he knew exactly where he had dropped them, but when he went to search for them, they weren't there anymore.

"It's af iff thuh groh lugs und wuhked awuh..." noted the safari warden. He really needed to take better care of his belongings.

"They grew legs and walked away? Either something supernatural is at work...or somebody took them." stated Ned.

Curious, Chris examined what the safari warden had written. According to the man, that particular youngster wore a purple pair of shorts, and his hat and shirt were both green.

"Wait a minute...I think I know who that youngster was..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yuh doo?" asked the warden curiously.

"Yeah...I think we should go look for them." spoke Chris.

"Right, I'll be right with you." nodded Ned.

"Of course you will...wouldn't want to get separated from me again, now would you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Right, of course not." agreed the male Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, the two Pokemon trainers left the office and went to search for the Safari Zone.

Unsurprisingly, it was rather nearby.

"You think we should catch some Pokemon in there while we're at it?" asked Ned curiously.

"Of course we should. What's the point of coming here if we don't catch Pokemon?" inquired Chris.

"Well, we need to search for the warden's dentures...otherwise nobody will be able to understand him." spoke the nerd.

"You seemed to understand him when he remarked that his dentures had somehow mutated and grew legs..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh yeah..." nodded Ned.

"Maybe if we're lucky he'll give us a reward for helping him." noted Chris.

"Don't you just want to help him out of the goodness of your heart?" inquired the boy curiously.

"What? Of course I do! I just thought that might be a possibility, that's all." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Now I get you." nodded Ned.

"Right then...let's go search for the dentures, shall we?" asked Chris curiously.

"Right." agreed the male Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, there was a guard standing in front of the Safari Zone. Apparently he wanted to make sure that nobody got inside without paying...and to make sure that trainers received Safari Balls.

Why Pokemon trainers couldn't simply use Pokeballs to catch the Pokemon in the Safari Zone...Chris wasn't quite sure.

Curious, she decided to consult the guard on the subject.

"Hey there...I heard that the warden lost his golden dentures...you wouldn't happen to know where they went, did you?" asked Chris curiously.

"To be honest, I'm not quite sure..." answered the security guard.

"Aww..." complained Ned.

"My boss certainly seemed rather upset about it...he was worried that he wouldn't be able to talk to anyone ever again...and that he'd have to eat his food using a straw." explained the guard.

"You can understand him?" asked Ned.

"I happen to be well-versed in sign language." explained the guard.

"Sorry to hear that he hasn't been able to eat or talk lately." sympathized Chris. She was starting to get worried about him. How long was he going to be able to cope without his precious dentures?

"On the plus side, his granddaughter volunteered to search for them...she said that it was the least she could do for her grandfather and that she wouldn't rest until she managed to find them." explained the guard.

"That's sweet." answered Ned. It was nice to see that Warden Baoba's granddaughter was trying to take care of him. Hopefully she would be able to succeed in her task...if he and his partner didn't find the dentures first.

"Unfortunately, she hasn't come back yet. Could you go check on her? I'm starting to get worried." asked the security guard curiously.

"Can't you just do that yourself?" inquired Chris curiously.

"I would, but my partner's on lunch break in the moment...and I'm worried that somebody might break in if I leave." explained the man.

"Oh." nodded Ned.

"Anyways, if you wish to head to the Safari Zone, here are some Safari Balls...they're yours for just 500 Pokedollars." stated the man.

Immediately, the guard pulled out about five dozen Safari Balls for them both to enjoy.

Finding his terms acceptable, Ned and Chris purchased the Safari Balls so that they could catch some Pokemon. How many Pokemon were at the Safari Zone, anyway? There could be hundreds for all they knew.

"Mind you, there's a time limit...once I tell you with the loudspeaker, I want you to head back, do you understand me?" inquired the Safari Zone guard.

Ned and Chris nodded. Judging from the rules that Warden Baoba had set up for the zone, they probably wouldn't be able to use all the Safari Balls in one trip...but at least they now had the opportunity to search for new Pokemon..

"Good...one Pokemon trainer already went in there before you...and guess what? He didn't come back even when I told him too...unfortunately he's not a very good listener." explained the man.

"Sorry to hear that." sympathized Ned.

"He seemed rather rebellious to me...right before he went inside, he said that he was going to catch all the Pokemon in the Safari Zone one day...and that he wasn't going to share them with anyone else." spoke the guard.

"Why does that sound familiar?" thought Chris.

"Try not to get carried away catching Pokemon, OK? We need to search for those golden dentures." explained Ned.

"Don't forget the safari warden's granddaughter." answered Chris.

"Oh, right...heh heh." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

And so, our two heroes began their search. Hopefully they would be able to find them both before the time limit...they didn't want to have to keep spending money just so that they could continue searching.

It was probably going to take them a while to find them...but since they were heroes, they were willing to take their time to help others.

"Here's hoping that I can find them both..." thought Chris.

_Oh dear...it looks like Chris and Ned are going to need to return some golden dentures to the safari warden...he appears to have carelessly misplaced them...or is there foul play at work here?_

_Also, Lucy and Jake have run foul of the local bikers at the Cycling Road it seems...admittedly they'll leave them alone for a while...but will they appear again?_

_As usual, you'll receive more information once I publish the next chapter...of A Typical Pokemon Journey!_


	34. Chapter 34: Pokemon Safari

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Chris and Ned are going to encounter one of their recurring rivals...you should probably know who he is...I gave you hints, didn't I?_

_Oh, and our four heroes are going to catch some more Pokemon...the more Pokemon the merrier, I say...just try not to make your PC explode, will you? They aren't exactly cheap._

**Chapter 34: Pokemon Safari**

Chris and Ned were both rather excited. Now they both had the opportunity to catch some Pokemon...hopefully they would come in handy if they ever found themselves in a Pokemon battle later.

Of course, since they were preparing to challenge yet another Gym Leader, they inevitably were going to end up in another Pokemon battle later.

In this case, they decided to deposit one of their Pokemon in their PC each so that they could immediately test out their Pokemon. After all, they would be able to use Safari Balls to catch a Pokemon at full health.

Of course, they needed to look for Warden Baoba's granddaughter as well as his missing golden dentures while they were at it.

They decided it was best to search in different directions.

"Wait, didn't I get separated from you while we were heading to Fuschia City?" inquired Ned.

"Relax...if you lose track me you can just head back to the Safari Zone entrance...I'll be there before too long." answered Chris.

"If you say so." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

The two Pokemon trainers went to search for more Pokemon.

In Ned's case, he ended up bumping into a Pokemon.

"Oof!" exclaimed Ned.

He started to get worried. Was the Pokemon aggressive?

According to the Safari Zone rules, he wasn't allowed to send out Pokemon to defend himself...though admittedly considering how effective Safari Balls were at catching Pokemon, this wasn't really neccessary.

But fortunately for Ned, the Pokemon he had bumped into was quite the opposite.

"Huh?" inquired the male Pokemon trainer.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the pink Pokemon.

Ned scanned the Chansey with his Pokedex.

"Chansey, the Egg Pokemon. It is a rare and elusive Pokemon that it said to bring happiness to whoever catches it." explains the Pokedex.

"Today's my lucky day then." he thought.

"Funny, don't I usually see you at Nurse Joy's Lab?" asked Ned curiously.

Chansey nodded. Personally she was hoping that one day she would be chosen to work at a Pokemon Center. There always seemed to be so many injured Pokemon.

Curious, Ned tossed a Safari Ball to see if the wild Pokemon would go with him...

...which it did.

"Yes!" cheered Ned.

Ned sent out the Chansey a few minutes later.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the female Pokemon.

Immediately, Ned's Chansey gave him an enormous hug.

"Is this Weepinbell all over again?" thought Ned curiously. Personally he was hoping that Chansey wouldn't pop out of her Pokeball when he least expected it.

On the plus side, Chansey seemed to want to help him with something.

"I'm looking for some golden dentures and Warden Baoba's granddaughter...have you seen them?" asked Ned.

Chansey nodded at the latter. Apparently, she knew where Warden Baoba's granddaughter was.

"Perfect! Can you take me to her?" asked Ned curiously.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the egg Pokemon.

"It's a shame that not all Pokemon are this friendly..." thought the geeky Pokemon trainer as he began to follow Chansey.

As it turned out, Chris had encountered a Tauros. All of a sudden, she began to feel nervous.

Fortunately, it didn't seem to be paying much attention to her...it just happened to be eating some delicious grass. Om nom nom nom.

"Hey there...you wouldn't happen to be the same Tauros I encountered on my first day of being a Pokemon trainer, now would you?" asked Chris curiously.

"Tauros?" asked the bull Pokemon.

Chris let out a sigh of relief. Apparently not.

Chris began to scan the Tauros with her Pokedex.

"Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokemon. When it targets an enemy, it charges furiously while whipping its opponent with its three tails." explained Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, at least this Tauros seems docile enough." thought Chris.

Personally she was still feeling a bit nervous...she was starting to have some rather bad memories.

Is that Tauros who she encountered earlier still out there? Then again she could probably use Jigglypuff to put him to sleep if he tried attacking again.

Somewhat nervously, she decided to toss a Safari Ball at the Tauros.

Fortunately, he did not put up much of a struggle, and he was caught.

"It's a good thing all the Pokemon here seem to be passive..." thought Chris. Wouldn't want any accidents to happen now.

Reluctantly, she decided to send out her Tauros. Personally she was worried that he was going to attack.

But thankfully he did not. In fact, all he wanted to do at the moment was sniff his new Pokemon trainer so that he could get her scent.

"Um, hey there...I'm looking for some golden dentures and the safari warden's daughter...have you seen either of them?" asked Chris curiously.

As it turned out, Tauros knew where the former was.

"Tauros!" exclaimed the bull Pokemon.

"Well, alright then, let's go!" exclaimed Chris.

"Tauros?" inquired Chris's Tauros.

Chris raised an eyebrow. Apparently he was asking if he wanted a ride.

"Um...sure." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Chris climbed onboard Tauros's back. He immediately began to charge towards his destination.

"Tauros are a big aggressive...even for my tastes...but at least this Tauros seems docile enough." thought the teenage girl.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Chris's archrival was up to no good once again. He was tossing rocks at Pokemon just for personal pleasure.

"Hahahaha!" laughed Jerry.

"Doduo!" bellowed a nearby Pokemon. Apparently she wasn't happy that Jerry had decided to throw rocks at her.

But Jerry did not care. All that mattered to him was to catch as many Pokemon in the Safari Zone as possible.

Incidentally, he wasn't having much luck...all the other Pokemon didn't seem to approve of his presence...and they ran away whenever he got too close.

But it was too late for Doduo, as Jerry swiftly threw a Safari Ball and caught her with one of his Safari Balls.

"Haha!" laughed Jerry.

Jerry pulled out his Pokedex to scan his new Pokemon.

"Doduo, the Twin Bird Pokemon. It cannot fly very well, but it is a very good runner." spoke Jerry's Pokedex.

"What kind of flying Pokemon can't fly?!" bellowed Jerry.

Jerry was sorely disappointed.

But on the plus side, those golden dentures he found while he was searching the Safari Zone sure seemed rather valuable...he bet he could sell it at the Poke Mart for a nice sum of cash.

"Heh heh heh..." thought the boy.

At that very moment, the safari warden's granddaughter went to talk to him.

"Excuse me...have you seen my grandpa's dentures? He really needs them back...nobody can understand him." asked Baoba's granddaughter curiously.

"I have them right here!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Really? Thank you thank you thank you!" cheered the warden's granddaughter.

"But guess what? I'm not giving them to you!" bellowed the youngster.

"What? Please give them back!" exclaimed the girl.

"Never!" bellowed Jerry.

"Oh c'mon! Can't you think of somebody other than yourself for a change?" asked Baoba's granddaughter.

Jerry immediately threw a rock at the girl to get her to leave him alone.

"Aah!" exclaimed Baoba's granddaughter as she ran away.

"Hehhehheh." laughed Jerry.

However, at that very moment, Chris and Ned arrived on the scene.

"Really, Jerry? You're stealing from an old man? I'd like to think that you wouldn't sink that low...but apparently you just did." questioned the Pokemon trainer.

"It's a dealer's market! Hehhehheh." spoke Jerry.

"Didn't you learn your lesson when Chris's Gastly terrified you?" asked Ned curiously.

"I ain't afraid of no ghost!" bellowed the youngster.

"Really? Because I'm sure that when I sent that Gastly after you, you never visited the Lavender Pokemon Volunteer House again..." noted Chris.

"Whatever! With my new Doduo I'm going to cream you losers!" bellowed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, Jerry decided to send out his new Doduo.

"Doduo!" bellowed the dodo Pokemon.

"Gee, maybe if you had two heads that would make you smarter...then again, maybe not." noted Chris.

"Grrr! This time I'm going to win!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Wait...I don't think we're allowed to battle Pokemon here..." spoke Ned.

"Who cares?! Either you win against me, or you're not getting back the dentures!" bellowed the youngster.

Chris sighed. Apparently she didn't have much of a choice.

At least she had an ideal Pokemon to use against him...

"Go, Tauros!" bellowed Chris.

"Tauros!" exclaimed the bull Pokemon.

"Darn it, why couldn't I catch one of those?!" pouted Jerry.

"Aggressive Pokemon are not for you...remember your old friend Gyarados?" inquired Chris.

"Who cares about my former Gyarados?! I don't need him! I can still pulverize you!" bellowed the youngster.

"Right..." answered Ned.

Tauros immediately used Horn Attack Doduo...knocking her to the ground.

"Doduo!" bellowed the dodo Pokemon. Both of the heads began to panic.

"Oh, c'mon! What's so scary about that bull? All it has are some really sharp horns..." inquired Jerry.

This of course did not help Doduo feel any better about facing Tauros.

"You'd think it was scary if one tried to chase you." explained Chris. She had learned that first-hand. If it weren't for Jigglypuff, she might have had to visit the local hospital.

Doduo immediately pecked Tauros in retaliation, but that only seemed to make him angrier.

Immediately, Chris instructed Tauros to use Pursuit...and Doduo fainted from fear. Tauros was simply too much for her.

Swirls appeared in the eyes of both of her heads.

"Stupid Doduo! You fainted against the same Pokemon twice!" bellowed Jerry as he recalled his Doduo.

"Do...duo..." murmured the two Doduo heads.

"No matter! That was just my new Pokemon! I'm sure my next Pokemon will be able to wipe the floor with you!" exclaimed Jerry.

As it turned out, his next Pokemon was a Hypno...by the looks of it, it had evolved since the last time Chris had encountered Jerry.

"Hypno..." murmured the psychic type.

Chris scanned the Hypno with her Pokedex.

"Hypno, the Hypnosis Pokemon. Avoid eye contact with it at all costs, as it will try to put you to sleep with its pendulum!" warned Chris's Pokedex.

Inevitably, Jerry was going to hypnotize her Tauros into falling asleep.

"You had better try to stay awake..." warned Chris.

Tauros nodded. He didn't like the look of that pendulum.

"Hypno, use Hypnosis!" ordered Jerry.

Unfortunately, Tauros couldn't resist.

"Taur...os..." mumbled Tauros.

"Yes! Now use Dream Eater!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Not good." thought Chris.

Immediately, Hypno began to feat on Tauros's dreams, doing a large amount of damage to Tauros in the process.

"Tauros!" bellowed the bull Pokemon.

"This isn't good for Tauros." noted Ned. He sure seemed to be taking a beating...who would have thought that Jerry would teach his Hypno how to use Dream Eater?

Hopefully he didn't give any of his other Pokemon TMs as well, or Chris might be in trouble.

Hypno hit Tauros with Dream Eater once again, causing him to faint. He then rubbed his stomach in satisfaction. Apparently, Tauros's dreams happened to be rather delicious.

In fact, they tasted just like an ice cream sundae.

"Yes! I am the champion!" cheered Jerry. Already he was feeling full of himself.

"Yeah yeah yeah...don't get too confident with yourself, yet Jerry. In case you haven't noticed, I've still got five Pokemon left to go...and you only have three left by the looks of it." spoke Chris.

As it turned out, Jerry had four Pokemon while Chris had about six. He was still outnumbered.

"And I think I know how to deal with you..." spoke Chris.

Immediately, Chris sent out Gastly.

"Aah!" screamed Jerry.

As it turned out, he was still afraid of ghost Pokemon as ever.

Ned began to feel rather nervous. He was personally glad that Gastly was on his partner's side.

Unfortunately for Hypno, Jerry was too petrified to launch an attack.

Taking advantage of the situation, Chris instructed Gastly to lick Hypno in the face.

"Hypno!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon. Being licked by a ghost-type was highly unpleasant.

And unfortunately, Hypno was now paralyzed...with fear.

"Hypno..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

Fortunately for Jerry, he managed to recompose himself.

"Use Hypnosis!" bellowed Jerry.

Fortunately for Gastly, he shutted his eyes so that he wouldn't end up falling asleep.

That was rather fortunate...since due to the fact Gastly was part poison-type, he took super effective damage from psychic attacks.

"Maybe I should have used something else..." thought Chris.

Gastly then licked Hypno once again...he was now shivering with revulsion, and sweat was dropping down his face.

"Darn it! Darn it!" bellowed Jerry. Already he was starting to feel rather frustrated.

This time, Hypno wasn't able to move.

Gastly licked Hypno one last time, and he fainted.

"Hypno..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"Well, that took a while..." noted Chris.

"Yeah, Lick isn't a particularly strong Pokemon attack..." nodded Ned.

Fortunately for Chris, it looked like Gastly was going to be able to use some new attacks soon...

Suddenly, Gastly began to evolve...and hands began to appear as well.

"Well, would you look at that...it didn't take you too long to evolve, did it?" noted Chris.

Gastly nodded. Then again, he was already close to evolution by the time Chris had caught him.

When the evolution was over...Gastly was now a Haunter.

"Haunter!" bellowed the more powerful ghost Pokemon.

Fortunately for Chris, Haunter could now use punching attacks...since you know, her former Gastly now had hands.

"Congratulations, Haunter!" cheered Chris.

"Haunt haunt haunt!" exclaimed Haunter.

Naturally, Jerry was more terrified of Chris's ghost Pokemon than ever.

"G-go, S-Slowpoke!" bellowed Jerry.

"Slowpoke." spoke the water Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

Unfortunately for Jerry, Slowpokes were weak against ghost attacks, due to being part psychic type.

Haunter immediately hit Slowpoke with Shadow Punch.

"Slow...poke?" inquired Slowpoke. Apparently he managed to feel that attack...though admittedly Slowpokes were pretty resistant to pain.

"Yes! Punch the Slowpoke!" exclaimed Chris.

Personally she felt the urge to punch Jerry in the face right about now while she was at it...but she decided to restrain herself. Wouldn't want to become just like him now...though admittedly she doubted she would ever steal from an old man.

Once again, Haunter punched Slowpoke with Shadow Punch...Slowpoke immediately fainted.

"You sure have gotten strong...haven't you, Haunter?" inquired Chris.

Haunter nodded. Curious, he decided to scare Chris to see if it would work this time.

"Nope...I'm still not afraid of you..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Haunter frowned.

"Hey, I'm as tough as nails...I'm sure you probably already know that..." noted Chris.

Haunter nodded...on the plus side, he bet that he would be able to scare her partner.

Removing his hat and stomping on it in frustration, Jerry decided to send out yet another Pokemon to deal with Chris's Haunter.

"Go, Sandslash!" exclaimed Jerry.

Apparently, Jerry had managed to evolve his Sandshrew as well.

"Sandslash!" bellowed the shrew Pokemon.

Chris scanned the Sandslash with her Pokedex.

"Sandslash, the Mouse Pokemon. It curls up into a spiny ball when threatened, and it can roll to escape from or attack its enemies!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"Well, it looks like you evolved that particular Pokemon too..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Of course I did! Now he's better than ever!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Well, you're still going to have to get stronger if you want to defeat me..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"I'll show you! Sandslash, use Slash!" bellowed the youngster.

Sandslash began to use his claws to slash Haunter as fast as he could...

...but there was a problem.

As it turned out, all his slashing attacks were going right through Haunter. It was as if he was...well, a ghost.

"Oh dear...it looks like your Sandslash's claws aren't going to work against my Haunter...they're going straight through him!" laughed Chris.

"Dang nabbit!" shouted Jerry.

"Yeah...in case you haven't noticed, Ghost Pokemon are immune to normal type attacks...and vice-versa." explained Ned.

"Oh, c'mon!" bellowed the youngster.

Haunter Shadow Punched Sandslash in retaliation, causing him to collapse on the ground.

"This just isn't going well for you, is it?" asked Chris curiously.

"Poison Sting!" commanded Jerry.

Jerry's Sandslash used Poison Sting on Haunter...but since he was part poison-type, this didn't hurt him much.

Haunter Shadow Punched Sandslash once again, and he fainted too.

"Graah!" bellowed Jerry. He was out of usable Pokemon.

"Fine! You can have the golden dentures! But I'm going to get you someday!" bellowed the youngster.

Immediately, he tossed the golden dentures at Chris.

"Thank you." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

A few seconds later, a security guard stopped by.

"Um...hello there?" greeted Jerry curiously.

"Did you just throw a rock at Warden Baoba's granddaughter?" asked the security guard curiously.

"Heh heh..." laughed the youngster nervously.

"You're banned from the Safari Zone." spoke the guard.

"Noooooo!" screamed Jerry.

"This is the S.S. Anne all over again." noted Ned.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, the security guard took Jerry away.

"Well, I suppose he got what he deserved. You think our time in the Safari Zone is about up?" asked Chris curiously.

As it turned out, yes it was.

"Well, it's been fun...and I happened to catch a Chansey." noted Ned.

"A Chansey? You're one lucky boy...though admittedly Chanseys are too girly for my taste." replied Chris.

"Aren't you a girl?" asked the boy.

"Not stereotypically." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"OK..." murmured the male Pokemon trainer.

Happily leaving the Pokemon Center with their new Pokemon, they immediately returned Warden Baoba's dentures.

"Thank you very much! Now people can finally understand me!" bellowed the warden.

"I bet they can." nodded Ned.

As a reward, Warden Baoba gave them a HM.

"There, now your Pokemon can become super-strong!" exclaimed Baoba.

"Thank you." answered Chris.

"Unfortunately, there was a Pokemon trainer that wouldn't give them back...he also threw a rock at your granddaughter...fortunately, a security guard caught him and he's banned now." explained Ned.

"Is my granddaughter alright?" asked Warden Baoba.

"Yeah, I think so." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"Thank goodness...I wouldn't want anything to happen to her." explained the old man.

"Yeah..." agreed Ned.

"It's a shame that a Pokemon trainer would want to steal from me..." noted Warden Baoba.

"I personally wonder why Jerry is such a jerk anyway..." pondered Chris.

"I sure hope that he learns some manners some day..." answered Ned.

"Anyways...if you ever decide to visit the Safari Zone again, have fun!" exclaimed the warden.

"I'm sure we will." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

"To be honest...I was thinking of moving the Safari Zone elsewhere...you know, attract a different crowd of Pokemon trainers..." noted Baoba.

"Interesting..." noted Ned.

"But for now, I think I'll stay at Fuschia City...there's always so many Pokemon to collect in Kanto and all..." spoke the warden.

Saying their farewells to the safari warden, Ned and Chris decided on their next course of action.

"Let's head to the Pokemon Gym!" exclaimed Chris.

"Sure." nodded Ned.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Lucy and Jake had also decided to visit the Safari Zone. Unsurprisingly, they wanted to catch some Pokemon of their own.

Lucy's Clefairy was rather excited to get to meet a bunch of other Pokemon...though unfortunately there didn't appear to be any wild Clefairy at the safari.

"Hey there! I just had to kick a Pokemon trainer out for throwing rocks at the Safari Warden's granddaughter...who would have thought that someone would do such a thing?" asked the guard curiously.

"Really? That's too bad." spoke Lucy. Why couldn't everyone just get along? Surely the world of Pokemon would be a much better place if everyone did so.

Then again, maybe that was too idealistic.

"Yeah...I heard that he had already been banned from the S.S. Anne too...said that he mistreated his Magikarp...and it evolved into a Gyarados and started causing chaos..." noted the guard curiously.

"Really? That sounds familiar..." noted Jake.

"Yeah...I personally wonder where he's headed now." questioned the guard.

"I sure hope that he doesn't cause any more trouble..." spoke Lucy.

"Anyways...if you want to head into the Safari Zone, and of course get some Safari Balls, you need to pay the fee of five hundred Pokedollars...admittedly it shouldn't be much." explained the security guard.

"Right, of course not." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

Paying the fee so that they could catch some Pokemon, Lucy and Jake both walked into the Safari Zone.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She was looking forward to meeting some new friends.

As it turned out, much like Chris and Ned before them, they had decided to deposit one of their Pokemon in the PC so that they could quickly make friends with the Pokemon they caught at the Safari Zone.

"I have to admit, I wonder why so many Pokemon have all gathered here..." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Maybe the warden imported them from other Pokemon regions?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Maybe." nodded the preteen boy.

Immediately, they began to look around for Pokemon. Curious, Lucy noticed that somebody had left a fishing rod behind.

Maybe they were in a hurry to leave the Safari Zone because the security guard had told them to do so?

Curious, Lucy decided to use the fishing rod to see if she could catch anything.

She ended up catching a rather special Pokemon.

"Dratini!" exclaimed the dragon Pokemon.

"A dragon Pokemon? Wow..." thought Lucy.

Lucy immediately threw a Safari Ball at the Dratini to make sure it didn't run away.

Thankfully, it did not.

Lucy scanned Dratini with her Pokedex.

"Dratini, the Dragon Pokemon. It was previously considered to be a myth until recently, when a small colony was discovered underwater." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"I'm starting to see why people like to visit this Safari Zone so much." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy." nodded Lucy's Clefairy.

Lucy immediately sent out her new Dratini to see it in action.

"Dratini!" exclaimed Lucy's Dratini.

This particular Dratini was male.

"Hey there, little guy! Glad to see you!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Dratini!" cheered the wyrm Pokemon.

"You wouldn't happen to know who left that fishing rod there, now would you?" asked Lucy curiously.

As it turned out, someone had decided to give up on fishing...and had left the fishing rod behind.

"That's kind of sad..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Dratini nodded.

"Ah well...I'm sure that you'll come in handy when I go to challenge the Gym Leader." thought the girl.

"Dratini!" cheered the dragon Pokemon.

"I wonder how Jake is doing." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

As it turned out, Jake had gone off to go catch a Pokemon of his own.

In this case, he decided to catch a Kangaskhan.

She was currently looking after her child, and did not notice his presence.

This was rather fortunate, as he heard that most Safari Zone Pokemon were timid and would run away from Pokemon trainers if they got too scared.

"Wouldn't that be an annoyance..." thought Jake.

He tossed the Safari Ball as quickly and as silently as he could.

It was a direct hit, and Kangaskhan was swallowed in a bright light.

"Funny, didn't my former boss use one of these against me?" thought the male Pokemon trainer curiously.

Personally he wondered where he even got a Kangaskhan...then again, he and the rest of his criminal organization were all considered to be Pokemon poachers.

He decided to send out his Kangaskhan so that he could examine his new Pokemon.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the kangaroo Pokemon.

"Hey there!" greeted Jake.

As it turned out, she was still looking after her child. Hopefully the shelter of a Pokeball would make things easier for her.

"You wouldn't happen to know the Kangaskhan my former employer used against me, now would you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

As it turned out, that particular Kangaskhan was unusually aggressive for her species, as Jake's new Kangaskhan explained to him.

"Yikes..." murmured the former Team Rocket Grunt.

He got the feeling that he was going to have to face that particular Kangaskhan again...so he figured that he needed to know what to do.

But since he had a Kangaskhan of his own, hopefully he would be able to win once again.

Of course, he wasn't aware of his former employer's whereabouts at the moment. Just where was Giovanni?

"I get the feeling that he's up to no good..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

_Meanwhile at the Team Rocket Hideout..._

As soon as Giovanni returned to his hideout, Team Rocket immediately cheered. They had been waiting for him for ages.

At least, it felt like ages. In truth, it had been about two weeks at the most.

Suffice to say, he was feeling much more confident in himself. His Pokemon had shown a large amount of improvement, and he had managed to catch a new Pokemon while he was at it.

To say the very least, he was now new and improved, much to his delight.

"I may have lost once...but it's not going to happen again..." thought the leader of Team Rocket.

As soon as he went back into his office, he was greeted by Domino.

"So, how did your training go? I had a run-in with an old-timer while you were gone...said that we needed to stop abusing Pokemon." asked Domino curiously.

Giovanni rolled his eyes. If only people would agree with his ways.

"Pretty good...pretty good...I can't wait to get revenge on that insolent former employee of mine...he thought he could betray Team Rocket and get away with it...well, I'm determined to prove him wrong." spoke Giovanni.

"Right, of course..." nodded the head of Team Rocket's number two. Incidentally, she had encountered that particular Pokemon trainer herself...she had been forced to retreat.

"Anyways, we're going on a trip." explained the criminal mastermind.

"We are? Where are we going?" asked Domino curiously. Somehow she got the feeling that her master was up to something big.

"We're headed to Silph Co...they just finished their latest Pokeball...and I can't wait to get my hands on it..." spoke Giovanni.

"What? What is it?" inquired the second-in-command of Team Rocket.

Giovanni whispered into Domino's ear.

"Oh boy! That does sound promising!" exclaimed the Team Rocket senior officer.

"It certainly does. If we can get our hands on it...we might be able to conquer Kanto once and for all." explained the head of Team Rocket.

"We're going to conquer Kanto?" asked Domino curiously.

"If things go our way, then yes. Now pack your bags." explained Giovanni.

Domino nodded. She was really looking forward to this. It just might be their key for taking over the world once and for all.

Then again, why did her master want to take over the world anyway? Was there something special about it to him? Or did he just the want the world to fear him?

Personally, Giovanni was hoping to obtain more than Silph Co's latest product...

He was hoping to get revenge.

"You may have defeated me once, Jake...but I shall make sure that this does not happen again...I promise that." thought the former head of Team Rocket.

A big grin appeared on his face as he went to pick up Persian.

_Well, Jerry has once again suffered the consequences for being so cruel to others...he never seems to learn, now does he? At least he managed to catch a new Pokemon while he was there at the Safari Zone..._

_Oh, and yes, in the next chapter, our heroes are going to the Fuschia Gym...and Team Rocket will be heading to Silph Co._

_Things do not look good for the latter...and neither does it for Jake._


	35. Chapter 35: Way Of The Ninja

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to battle the gym leader by the name of Koga...oh, and they'll also get to meet his daughter and his apprentice, Janine..._

_And yes, our heroes are going to be getting Gym Badges...that's what you want, right?_

**Chapter 35: Way Of The Ninja**

Chris and Ned began to scan their PCs to see what would be effective against Koga. It would be a good idea to prepare themselves for the fight ahead.

"Let's see now..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

At Professor Oak's Lab were Snorlax, Parasect, and Fearow. She immediately knew that sending Parasect against Koga would be a bad idea, since Parasects were weak against poison-types.

Unsurprisingly, Snorlax was eating everything in sight.

"Hmm..." thought the girl.

Shrugging, she decided to send Tauros to Professor Oak's Lab in the favor of Snorlax.

Strangely enough, there already seemed to be a large amount of Tauros at Professor Oak's Lab. It was as if somebody had thrown a large amount of Safari Balls and had caught about thirty of them or so at once.

Entering the gym, Chris and Ned immediately started bumping into things.

Apparently, someone had set up invisible walls around the gym.

"OK...this might make it hard to get around..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Who designed this gym anyway?" questioned Ned.

"Greetings, Pokemon trainers. I am Koga, the Gym Leader of Fuschia City. I take it you are here to challenge me? Hahahaha!" asked Koga politely.

Chris and Ned nodded.

Curiously enough, Chris and Ned noticed that Koga did not appear to be the only ninja inside the gym.

Sure enough, there was his daughter, Janine. By the looks of it, she was trying to imitate her father.

At that very moment, hearts began to appear in Ned's eyes.

"Hey there! I'll happen to let you know that I love ninjas! They are totally awesome!" exclaimed Ned as he went up to Janine.

"Um...hello there." answered Janine.

Chris was not amused.

Immediately, she grabbed Ned by the ear and shoved his face in front of one of the invisible walls.

"Oof!" exclaimed the boy.

"The only thing you're going to be kissing today is that wall." said Chris.

"Aww..." complained Ned.

"Are you...ready for your gym battle?" asked Koga curiously.

Chris nodded.

"Good. Go, Koffing!" exclaimed the ninja as he tossed a Pokeball.

"Koffing!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Let's see now...what should my first choice of Pokemon be?" thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Shrugging, she decided to test out her new Tauros.

"Tauros!" bellowed the wild bull Pokemon.

Hopefully none of Koga's Pokemon knew Dream Eater, right? He was a poison-type specialist and all.

Immediately, Koffing spewed smoke in Tauros's face.

"Koffing!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

Fortunately, since Tauros had a rather good sense of smell, this didn't affect his accuracy too much.

Immediately, Chris instructed him to charge.

"Tauros!" bellowed the wild bull Pokemon.

Caught by surprise, Koffing began to bounce across the gym like a ping pong ball.

"Wow..." murmured Janine.

Suffice to say, it looked as if Tauros had scored a critical hit.

"Well, this Gym battle is off to a good start..." thought Chris.

Unfortunately for Koffing, he had a nasty trick up his sleeve.

Suddenly, he began to glow with energy.

"Is he evolving?" asked Chris curiously.

"I think it's something else..." warned Ned.

Koffing self-destructed in Tauros's face, causing him to take an enormous amount of damage.

"Tauros!" bellowed the wild bull Pokemon.

On the plus side, Koffing had fainted.

"Well, that's one Pokemon down..." noted Chris.

However, as she discovered, Koga had a spare. He immediately sent out another Koffing to take his place.

"I have to admit, I haven't made my Pokemon explode like that in a while..." noted Koga.

"You do realize that you're going to have to pay money every time your Pokemon does that, right father?" asked Janine.

"What can I say? I'm a Gym Leader so I have lots of money on my hands...the Pokemon League's paying me through the dojo...and they say I'm in the running to be a member of the Elite Four!" exclaimed the ninja master.

"Really? That's great!" acknowledged the ninja apprentice.

"Anyways...use Sludge!" commanded Koga.

Koga's Koffing immediately tossed sludge at Tauros, and he fainted.

"You like explosions, huh? I know just the Pokemon to send out then..." spoke Chris.

Immediately, she sent out Haunter.

"Haunt haunt haunt!" exclaimed Chris's Haunter.

Suffice to say, it looked as if Chris's Haunter had an advantage...since he wouldn't have to worry about the invisible walls around the arena.

"Use Sludge!" commanded Koga.

Koga's Koffing immediately hurled sludge against Chris's Haunter...but that didn't hurt him much at all.

"Oddly enough Haunter happens to be poison-type too..." explained Chris.

"Really?" asked the ninja master.

"Yeah...but since he's also a ghost type, he won't have to worry about his attacks not being very effective...how about that?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"I might be in trouble..." thought Koga.

Haunter immediately Shadow Punched Koffing, knocking the breath out of him.

Starting to get rather desperate, Koga immediately instructed Koffing to Selfdestruct as well.

Unfortunately, Koga's plan had a flaw...Haunter was immune to normal-type attacks.

As soon as the smoke settled, Haunter was shown to be completely unharmed.

"Haunter?" asked the ghost Pokemon curiously.

Koga sighed. He just realized his mistake...and now he had only two Pokemon left.

"Yeah...maybe you should have had your Koffing use a different move..." noted Janine.

Sighing, Koga sent out his Muk.

"Muk!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Muk hurled sludge at Haunter.

"Haunter!" exclaimed Chris's Haunter. Unfortunately, it was a critical hit, though admittedly this still didn't hurt him much.

Once again, Chris instructed Haunter to Shadow Punch Muk.

However, as it turned out, Muk had a way to counter that.

Suddenly, Muk began to surround himself with acidic armor.

"Muk..." murmured Koga's Muk.

"Good. Try defending yourself!" exclaimed Koga.

Curious, Chris's Haunter tried Shadow Punching Muk again...

...but he ended up burning his hand.

"Haunter!" bellowed the ghost Pokemon.

"Oh dear..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer. Apparently she was going to have to take things up a notch.

"Sludge!" commanded Koga.

Koga's Muk immediately hurled Sludge at Chris's Haunter. He was starting to feel tired.

"Use Curse!" commanded Chris.

Haunter immediately halfed his HP to lay a Curse on Muk...unfortunately, since he had about half of his health remaining, this caused him to faint.

"Well, your sacrifice won't be in vain...I promise." stated Chris as she recalled her Haunter.

"I hope not." nodded Ned.

Shrugging, she decided to send out her Charmeleon to see if it could do the job.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Charmeleon immediately opened up by using Flamethrower on Muk.

"Muk!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Yes!" cheered Chris. It was good to see that Charmeleon had learned a fairly powerful fire technique.

Unfortunately for Muk, he was burned...and since he was taking damage from Haunter's Curse, it looked like he wasn't going to last long.

However, Koga was able to give Charmeleon a parting present before Muk fainted.

"Use Toxic!" ordered Koga.

Immediately, Koga's Muk used Toxic on Charmeleon to poison him.

Shortly afterwards, Muk fainted.

"Yes! We've almost won!" exclaimed Chris.

"Charmeleon..." murmured Chris's Charmeleon. He wasn't feeling so good.

Now down to his last Pokemon, Koga sent out Weezing.

"Weezing!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"How ironic...you sent out two Koffings to fight me...and now you're sending out a Weezing..." spoke Chris.

"That is kind of ironic, father." nodded Janine.

"I know, I know...maybe one day my Koffings will evolve into Weezings..." noted Koga.

"That would be nice...I always like when my Pokemon evolve." agreed Ned. Personally he was hoping that he could find some evolutionary stones.

Then again, he heard that there were some techniques that a Pokemon could learn when they haven't been evolved by an evolutionary stone...he considered that in the event he ever wanted to evolve his Weepinbell or his Growlithe or his Nidorina.

Unfortunately for Chris, ever since Muk had hit him with Toxic, Charmeleon was feeling very ill.

She must have noticed this, because she was holding her Jigglypuff's Pokeball in one hand.

"Use Flamethrower...and try to hold on as long as you can." explained Chris.

Chris's Charmeleon nodded, and began to roast Weezing with Flamethrower. Thankfully, since Weezings were essentially full of hot air, this proved to be rather effective.

Hwoever, Weezing managed to hit Charmeleon with Sludge...combined with the Toxic, he was now feeling quite weak.

"Char...mel..." murmured Charmeleon. In fact, he was now at his knees.

"One last...Flamethrower." spoke Chris.

Charmeleon hit Weezing with Flamethrower one last time...and this time, he was burned.

"Weezing..." murmured Chris's Weezing.

Shortly afterwards, Charmeleon fainted.

Unfortunately, for some strange reason, a Pokemon could not have two status ailments at once, so Chris wouldn't be able to use Jigglypuff to put him to sleep.

But since Weezing was taking periodic damage and wasn't going to do as much damage with his attacks, that wasn't so bad.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" squealed Chris's Jigglypuff.

Instinctively, Jigglypuff began to sing, but her Pokemon trainer told her off.

"Yeah...about that, in case you haven't noticed...Weezing's been burned...you won't be able to put him to sleep with your singing." explained Chris.

"Jiggly?" asked Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Yeah, I don't understand it either...but that's just how Pokemon battling works." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

Jigglypuff was rather confused by this...in fact, she nearly hurt herself in confusion.

Thankfully, she pulled herself back together.

Unfortunately for Weezing, he managed to hit Jigglypuff with Toxic...Chris was going to have to wrap up the Pokemon battle quickly if she wanted to win.

Or maybe not. Suddenly, Jigglypuff began to fall asleep.

"What are you doing?" asked Chris.

Immediately, the deadly poison was removed from her body.

"Jiggly...puff..." murmured Chris's Jigglypuff in her sleep.

Unfortunately, this left Jigglypuff up for an open assault...but on the plus side, this meant that Toxic wouldn't be effective.

"Well, this battle isn't going well for me..." thought Koga.

He instructed Weezing to hit Jigglypuff with Tackle, then follow up with Sludge...but unfortunately, Weezing missed the latter.

And of course, the burns it suffered earlier took their toll...and Weezing fainted.

"Huh, Jigglypuff literally beat the gym leader in her sleep..." thought Chris.

At that very moment, Jigglypuff woke up. She seemed rather confused that her opponent had fainted while she was in Dreamland.

"Congratulations, Chris. Personally I think you would be good ninja material..." spoke Koga as he handed Chris the Soul Badge.

"In order to do that, I'd need some really fast Pokemon..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Now that she thought of it, her Pokemon seemed more geared for physical strength than speed. Of course, there was her Fearow, but that seemed to be about it.

Unfortunately for Ned, he was too lovestruck to battle at the moment...so Chris hauled him out of the Pokemon Gym. She began to wonder what he would ever do without her.

On the plus side, she was over halfway done with collecting Gym Badges.

"Heh, just three badges left to go." smiled Chris.

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake arrived at the Pokemon Gym.

"Hey there, Chris! How are you doing today?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

"Doing fine...I just defeated the Gym Leader and took his gym badge." explained Chris.

"Really? That's great!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy.

"Of course, that was what we were going to do..." noted Jake.

"Do you know what I can do in the meantime? Ned seems to be lovestruck again..." explained Chris.

"Why does he always flirt whenever there's a pretty girl around?" asked the male Pokemon trainer curiously.

"Your guess is as good as mine." answered Chris.

"Well, we just went to visit the Cycling Road...it seems like a fairly decent tourist attraction...though unfortunately we happened to run into a group of nasty bikers..." noted Lucy.

"Really?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...we encountered their leader...he referred to himself as Johnny, and when we defeated him, he swore revenge on us...said that he was going to get even with us someday..." explained Jake.

"Yeah, I know how you feel." nodded Chris. Personally he reminded her of somebody else that she knew...but she couldn't quite remember his name...she knew that it also started with a J...but who was it?

"Well, thanks for the advice...I'm going for a joyride." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she pulled out her bike and began to ride away to the Cycling Road.

"Weren't we just there?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy.

"Yes, I believe we were." nodded Jake.

Ned did not notice his partner leaving...in fact, he wasn't moving at all.

Lucy started waving her hand in front of the boy's face...he still did not move.

"You there, Ned?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Doesn't look that way." noted Jake.

"I'm starting to feel worried about him..." spoke Lucy.

"You think we should take him to Nurse Joy?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sounds like a good idea." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Lifting Ned up by each of his arms, they took him to Nurse Joy.

"Can I help you?" asked the nurse.

"Yeah...can you help him snap out of whatever's ailing him? He's just staring vacantly...and we don't know what's wrong with him..." explained Lucy.

"I'm not sure...but I'll give it a shot." answered Nurse Joy.

Immediately, two Chanseys picked up Ned and put him on a stretcher.

"Thank you." answered Lucy.

The two Pokemon trainers left the Pokemon Center shortly afterwards.

"So, should we challenge the Gym Leader now? Or do you want to check on Ned?" asked Jake.

"I suppose we should challenge the Gym Leader for now...Nurse Joy did say that she might not be able to fix him..." noted Lucy.

"Let's hope she can...then again, maybe all Ned needs is some time alone." nodded Jake.

Shrugging, Lucy accompanied Jake to the Pokemon Gym.

Sure enough, there was Koga, who was eagerly awaiting their arrival.

"Hahahaha! Welcome to my gym...or should I say dojo? I take it you're here to try to win a Gym Badge?" asked Koga curiously.

"Yes." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Alright then! Show me what you've got!" exclaimed the Gym Leader.

Jake nodded as he sent out his Cubone.

"Cubone bone bone!" exclaimed the cub Pokemon.

Koga sent out Koffing in retaliation.

"Use Bone Club!" exclaimed Jake.

Cubone immediately went to whack Koffing with his Bone Club...

...only to miss completely.

"Huh?" asked the former Team Rocket curiously.

This gave Koffing the opportunity to hit Cubone with Toxic...causing him to feel rather ill.

"Cu...bone..." murmured Jake's Cubone.

"That's not good." thought the preteen boy.

Sure enough, Cubone was already starting to take a large amount of damage.

And to make matters worse, he could not seem to hit Koffing at all. In fact, Cubone was being pelted with Sludge every time he attacked.

Eventually he fainted, and he realized that he had made a bad Pokemon choice.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Jake's Pokemon battle wasn't going too well so far. Could he turn the tables?

"Oh dear..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt. He might need to have a rematch with Koga later.

Hopefully his next choice of Pokemon would have better results.

"Go, Wartortle!" bellowed Jake.

"Wartortle!" exclaimed Wartortle as she was released from her Pokeball.

Unfortunately for Jake, Koga realized that since he had the number advantage, now was a good time to use Selfdestruct.

"Koffing, Selfdestruct!" ordered Koga.

On the plus side, this caused Koffing to faint instantly. On the other side, Wartortle fainted immediately too.

"Oh no..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yikes!" exclaimed Lucy. That was one big explosion.

Starting to feel desperate, Jake decided to use the Pokemon that he had caught at the Safari Zone earlier.

"Go, Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Jake.

"Kangaskhan!" bellowed Kangaskhan as mother and child were both released from the Pokeball.

Koga immediately sent out his own Koffing in retaliation.

"Go, Koffing!" exclaimed Koga.

Curious, Jake noticed that with him appeared to be his daughter Janine...could she be the reason why Ned was catatonic?

"I hope that he gets better soon..." murmured Jake.

Unfortunately for Jake, this particular Koffing chose to Self-Destruct as well.

Fortunately for Kangaskhan, she managed to withstand this assault without fainting...but just barely.

"I sure hope that she hangs in there..." thought Lucy.

Koga immediately sent out his Muk to face Kangaskhan.

Jake instructed Kangaskhan to give him everything she had.

Kangaskhan nodded, and hit Muk so hard that he actually made him dizzy.

This made Muk confused, and he began to harm himself.

"Your Kangaskhan is doing pretty well considering the circumstances...but your luck is going to run out sooner or later." warned Koga.

"I know..." nodded Jake. It appears that fate wasn't on his side today.

Kangaskhan then hit Muk with Bite, sinking her teeth into the sludge.

Unfortunately, Muk's sludge tasted rather unpleasant.

"Kangaskhan..." murmured the parent Pokemon.

Muk then hurled sludge at Kangaskhan...and then she fainted.

"Oh dear...it looks like I'm going to send out Grimer now..." noted Jake.

Jake immediately sent out Grimer to face Muk...

"Grimer!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon.

Realizing that he was facing his evolutionary counterpart...he began to feel rather nervous.

"Grimer..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

On the plus side, Muk wouldn't be able to poison him with Toxic...since he was basically already made out of poison.

And to make things easier for Grimer, he had a new technique.

Immediately, he began to hurl an explosive round of sludge at Muk.

"Muk!" exclaimed Muk.

Unfortunately for Grimer, it wasn't very effective...though the damage was noticable nonetheless.

"Good...you've learned Sludge Bomb." noted Jake.

Jake's Grimer nodded. It was nice to know such a powerful poison-type move.

Unfortunately, Muk hurled Sludge at Grimer in retaliation, though thankfully he leapt over it.

Fortunately for Grimer, it surprisingly took only one more round of Sludge Bomb to defeat Muk.

However, Grimer still had to deal with Weezing.

"Go, Weezing!" exclaimed Koga.

Weezing immediately hit Grimer with Sludge...and this time, he scored a critical hit.

"Grimer..." murmured Jake's Grimer as he fainted.

Jake sighed. This was the third time he had lost a Gym Battle...though admittedly the second time was due to a forfeit.

Hopefully he would do better next time.

Of course, this meant that it was now Lucy's turn to shine.

After Koga and Jake both healed their Pokemon, Lucy pulled out a Pokeball.

"Right then...go, Kadabra!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

"Go, Koffing!" exclaimed Koga.

"Koffing!" bellowed the smoke Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"Kadabra, use Psybeam!" ordered Lucy.

Kadabra immediately hit Koffing with Psybeam, doing a large amount of damage.

"So far so good." stated the female Pokemon trainer.

Kadabra nodded in satisfaction.

Unfortunately, Koga would be having none of that.

"Selfdestruct!" ordered Koga.

Koffing immediately blew himself as his Pokemon trainer commanded, causing both himself and Kadabra to faint.

Lucy sighed. She was hoping that Kadabra would last longer. Then again, his defenses weren't particularly high.

Shrugging, Lucy decided to send out her Dugtrio.

"Go, Dugtrio!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Dugtrio!" bellowed the mole Pokemon.

Lucy immediately instructed Dugtrio to use Magnitude...

...but unfortunately, Koffing did not feel it, as he was levitating in thin air.

"Oh no..." thought Lucy to herself.

Koffing immediately pelted Dugtrio with Sludge...thankfully, since he was a ground-type, this didn't hurt him too mcuh.

Unfortunately however, Dugtrios did not have much HP, so they simply could not take too many hits.

In fact, Lucy wondered if her Dugtrio would faint instantly if it ever got hit by a water attack. Thankfully, chances are that it would usually get to go first.

"Anything else you can do?" asked Lucy curiously.

Dugtrio began to think of his next course of action.

Surely he could try using a new technique, right? Pokemon learned new techniques all the time...it made Pokemon battling easier that way.

Starting to feel desperate, Dugtrio began to attack Koffing as quick as he could...which was rather fast indeed.

"Koffing!" exclaimed Koffing. He immediately found himself being scratched many different times.

Lucy had to admit, having such a fast Pokemon was rather useful.

Unfortunately, Koffing hit Dugtrio with another round of Sludge, and he fainted too.

"Oh dear..." murmured Lucy.

At this point, Lucy was running out of options.

"Let's see now..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Shrugging, she decided to send out her new Dratini.

"Go, Dratini!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Dratini!" bellowed the dragon Pokemon.

"Self-Destruct!" ordered Koga.

Koga's Koffing immediately went up to Dratini and tried to Self-Destruct...which he was just barely able to avoid.

Koga sighed. He was hoping that Dratini would be hit...but apparently not.

"Go, Muk!" exclaimed Koga.

"Muk!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

"Uh-oh..." thought Lucy. Unfortunately, Dratini wasn't an experienced fighter at the moment...so it looked like he wasn't going to do too well inside the gym.

Sure enough, Muk hit Dratini with Toxic, and he was already starting to feel very ill.

"Oh dear..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

"Use Slam!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Dratini did so, slamming into Muk...but unfortunately this didn't hurt him very much.

In retaliation, Muk hurled Sludge at Dratini, and he fainted.

"This isn't good..." thought the female Pokemon trainer

All that was left now was to use Clefairy, it seemed.

"Go, Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy immediately detached herself from Lucy's backside.

"Use Metronome!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Clefairy did so...and an enormous pit opened underneath Muk.

"Muk!" exclaimed Muk as he fell inside the fissure.

"Wow..." murmured Jake. Clefairy just used a one-hit KO move...he heard that those moves typically suffered from horrible accuracy...did Clefairy get lucky or was she just a fast learner?

Unsurprisingly, Muk came out of the fissure a few minutes later, completely unable to battle.

Sighing at his bad luck, Koga recalled his Muk and sent out his Weezing.

"Toxic!" bellowed Koga.

Koga's Weezing immediately poisoned Clefairy, causing her to feel rather ill.

Clefairy tried using Fissure again...but unfortunately, since Weezing was levitating, this didn't do anything.

"Oh dear..." murmured Lucy.

Weezing then hit Clefairy with Sludge, causing her to feel rather weak.

"Clefairy, try using Psychic with Metronome." ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy immediately hit Weezing with Psychic. It must have been a critical hit, because he fainted instantly.

"Yes!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately for Clefairy, she immediately fainted as well. Apparently Toxic had taken its toll.

"Um..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer.

Suffice to say, it looks like it was a stalemate.

"Hmm..." thought the male Gym Leader. This was the first time that happened in a while...and he wasn't quite sure what to do.

According to the Pokemon League rules, in the event a Pokemon Trainer tied with the Gym Leader, it was up to them to decide whether they were worthy of the Gym Badge or not.

Curious, he turned to his daughter Janine, and suddenly he got an idea.

"I suppose I'll let you have my gym badge...if you battle my daughter Janine..." spoke the Gym Leader.

"Hmm?" asked Lucy curiously.

"You see, she's in training to inherit my gym...I would appreciate it if you gave her a hand." explained the ninja.

"Um, sure...I'll do that once I take my Pokemon to the Pokemon Center..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she left to go heal her Pokemon.

In the meantime, Jake decided that he should go train his Pokemon...there had to be a way for him to take down those Koffings and Weezings efficiently...

Unfortunately, unless Jake could somehow bring them closer to the ground, he was going to have a hard time hitting them.

"Hmm..." thought the male Pokemon trainer.

For now, he decided to see if he could get some of his Pokemon to evolve. Surely there was one Pokemon of his that could, right?

Shrugging, he decided to go look for some Pokemon trainers to fight while Lucy battled Janine.

_Meanwhile..._

Ned woke up from his nap with a start. Immediately, he began to wonder where he was. Did he die and go to heaven?

"Where...am I?" he asked.

Curious, he pinched himself to see if he was still there...which he was, fortunately. He got the feeling that his partner would be up a creek without a paddle without him.

After all, while he did admit that she was the strongest Pokemon trainer out of him and his friends, she was rather impulsive, and without him she was going to inevitably make some bad decisions.

Curious, he looked around and discovered that he was in the Pokemon Center.

Sure enough, he could see a Chansey nearby.

"How long was I out anyway?" asked Ned curiously.

Unsurprisingly, Nurse Joy's Chansey was very happy to see that he was up and about. In fact, she seemed to be rather excited.

Oddly enough, he also recalled to have caught at a Chansey at the Safari Zone recently. Curious, he decided to send out his Chansey as well.

"Chansey!" exclaimed Ned's Chansey.

Suffice to say, this made Nurse Joy's Chansey feel rather excited. It wasn't every day that she got to see another Chansey...other than the ones that belonged to her Pokemon trainer, that is.

Personally, she began to wonder why her Pokemon species were so rare. It'd be nice if they were more numerous.

"You think you'd like to work for Nurse Joy one day, Chansey?" asked Ned curiously.

Ned's Chansey nodded, though personally she was just as happy to be Ned's Pokemon as anyone else.

Sure enough, Nurse Joy noticed that he was conscious.

"Thank goodness...I was starting to get worried." said the Pokemon nurse.

"What happened? Why did I pass out?" asked Ned curiously.

"Your friend said that you ran into a pretty girl and passed out..." explained the nurse.

"Oh dear...I guess that's what happens when I'm around a girl for too long...maybe Chris was right to try to prevent me from flirting with girls..." noted Ned.

"You should try to control yourself." suggested Nurse Joy.

"Maybe you're right..." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

Curious, he began to try to think of things other than girls...he decided to think about his Chansey instead...though admittedly Chansey was a girl herself, albeit not a human one.

"OK...I think I'm starting to feel better now..." stated Ned.

"Good. I don't want you to have to go here again...so try to take care of yourself." answered Nurse Joy.

"Right, I will." nodded the male Pokemon trainer.

Ned's Chansey immediately handed Ned a band-aid.

"Right then...I'm going to try to challenge the Gym Leader now..." stated Ned.

"Be careful out there then. You'd be surprised how many poisoned Pokemon I have to treat here..." noted Nurse Joy.

"Yeah..." nodded the boy.

Curious, he began to wonder where Chris went.

"Do you see my partner anywhere in the Pokemon Center?" asked Ned curiously.

"I believe that she went for a bike ride." explained Nurse Joy.

"Thank you." answered the boy.

As Ned left the Pokemon center, he began to feel like a changed man.

"OK...I'll try not to flirt with the Gym Leader's daughter this time..." said Ned to himself.

Of course, for Ned, this was a task that was easier said than done.

_What's this? It appears that Lucy and Koga's battle has ended in a stalemate...now he wants her to battle his daughter so that she can become stronger...well, anything to earn a badge._

_And unfortunately Jake has lost...it looks like he's going to have to make his Pokemon a bit stronger...and of course, be more careful in his choices of Pokemon._

_But on the plus side, Chris has managed to win her Pokemon battle...and now she's going for a joyride. Of course, Ned is going to be looking for her...he's not exactly interested in losing her again._

_In the next chapter, there's going to be some more Pokemon battling...naturally. But Jake's next opponent might be a bit surprising._

_Have a good one!_


	36. Chapter 36: Aim To Be A Pokemon Master

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Jake is going to take on none other than...Ash Ketchum! Surprise surprise! Also, one of his Pokemon is going to evolve..._

_Hopefully this will help him out with his rematch with Koga...whenever that comes. Or is he going to be rematching Koga?_

**Chapter 36: Aim To Be A Pokemon Master**

Jake immediately went to search for a Pokemon Trainer that he could battle...sure enough, he found one...but he was none other than Ash Ketchum.

"Um, hey there!" exclaimed Jake.

"Hi!" answered Ash Ketchum.

"Do you want a Pokemon battle?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sure!" exclaimed Ash Ketchum. As it turned out, he was itching to battle the Gym Leader as well.

"Good...I just lost against Koga and I need a pick-me-up..." stated Jake.

"Did you lose against Brock too?" asked Ash curiously.

"Yes, I did." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Then I think that we can understand each other." answered the Pokemon champ in the making.

"Right, of course." nodded Jake.

"So, which Pokemon do you want to send out first?" asked Ash curiously.

"My Cubone, I guess...I think he needs more training..." answered the Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then! Go, Charmeleon!" exclaimed the boy.

"Go, Cubone!" bellowed Jake.

"Cubone bone!" exclaimed Jake's Cubone.

"Go, Charmeleon!" shouted Ash Ketchum.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed Ash's Charmeleon.

"Use Flamethrower!" ordered Ash.

Unfortunately, Charmeleon chose not to listen to Ash.

Ash Ketchum sighed.

"What's the matter? Why isn't Charmeleon attacking?" asked Jake.

"Well, ever since my Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon, he hasn't been obeying me. He doesn't seem to respect me as a Pokemon trainer anymore...well, either that, or he's developed the personality of his former Pokemon trainer..." noted Ash Ketchum.

"He has?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah...personally I'm hoping that by getting more badges, he'll start to obey me..." noted the Pokemon trainer.

Jake nodded. Apparently, Pokemon respected their Pokemon trainers more when they've defeated powerful Pokemon trainers. Gym Leaders generally fit the bill, though they weren't necessarily difficult if said Pokemon trainers had a type advantage over them...he found that out when he used Mankey against Brock.

Personally, he began to worry if Cubone would start disobeying him one day.

"Er, you're not going to start disobeying me one day, are you? I mean, I would like to think that you are loyal to me and all..." noted Jake.

Cubone nodded his head. Why would he ever disobey his Pokemon trainer? He comforted him after the loss of his mother.

In fact, in order to show his appreciation to his Pokemon trainer, he decided to do something that would impress him.

Focusing energy, Cubone began to evolve.

"Wow, he must really appreciate me..." noted Jake.

"I wish I could say that for Charmeleon..." answered Ash Ketchum.

Charmeleon sighed. He didn't seem interested in Cubone evolving at all. In fact, he looked even more bored.

When Cubone had stopped evolving, he was now a Marowak.

"Marowak!" exclaimed Marowak.

"Hmm...it looks like the skull of your mother has become your face...weird..." noted Jake.

Marowak shrugged. Personally he was unsure why that happened...but at least he received a large power boost.

Ash scanned the Marowak with his Pokedex.

"Marowak, the Bonekeeper Pokemon. The bone it holds is its key weapon, and it can throw the bone like a boomerang to attack its opponents." read Ash's Pokedex.

"Yeah...I think I already knew that." noted Jake.

Ash Ketchum scratched his head. Why was Dexter telling him the obvious?

Apparently Charmeleon already knew this as well, as he was now taking a nap.

The unfortunate Pokemon trainer sighed. Hopefully, his fire Pokemon would obey him one day...but apparently this wasn't the day.

Sighing, Ash Ketchum recalled his Charmeleon and decided to send out another Pokemon to defeat Marowak.

In this case, it was Snorlax.

"Go, Snorlax!" exclaimed the boy as he threw a Pokeball.

"Snorlax!" bellowed Ash's Snorlax.

"Oh dear...it's that Pokemon that was blocking Cycling Road earlier..." noted Jake.

Ash Ketchum nodded eagerly.

"I might be in trouble..." murmured the male Pokemon trainer.

Fortunately, Marowak did not cower in fear despite his opponent's size, and prepared himself for battle.

Jake immediately instructed Marowak to use Bonemerang on Snorlax...which hit him twice in the stomach.

"Snorlax!" exclaimed Ash's Snorlax. Apparently, despite his enormous gut, he had felt that.

Unfortunately, Snorlax was now free to attack in retaliation.

"Use Body Slam!" ordered Ash Ketchum.

Snorlax immediately pummeled into Marowak, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Marowak!" exclaimed Marowak.

He narrowly avoided being paralyzed by that technique. He certainly wasn't looking forward to being hit by a Pokemon that...big.

In retaliation, he used Thrash on Snorlax.

"Snorlax snorlax snor!" exclaimed Snorlax. Surprisingly, he was taking a wallop.

However, as it turned out, he had a technique that most Snorlaxes did not.

Suddenly, a tidal wave of water appeared and struck Marowak down.

"Marowak!" exclaimed Marowak.

Immediately, Marowak fainted, and a smile formed on Snorlax's face.

"Wow..." murmured Ash.

"Who would have thought that a Snorlax could learn Surf?" asked Jake.

The ten-year-old boy shrugged.

Knowing that he would need a Pokemon that could resist Surf if he wanted to defeat Ash, Jake decided to send out Wartortle.

"Go, Wartortle!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Wartortle!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Immediately, Jake hit Wartortle with Body Slam...and unfortunately, she was paralyzed.

"Uh-oh..." thought the preteen boy. This did not look good for Wartortle.

Sure enough, the water Pokemon was having a hard time moving...and was not having an easy time attacking, either.

"Erm...Water Gun?" asked Jake curiously.

Jake's Wartortle immediately spewed water at Snorlax...which unfortunately didn't harm him very much.

Snorlax once hit again hit Wartortle with Body Slam in retaliation.

Unfortunately, this time Jake's Wartortle could not move.

"Oh man..." murmured the former Team Rocket Grunt.

This gave Ash's Snorlax another opportunity to perform another attack, and Wartortle fainted.

Jake sighed. It was time to send out another Pokemon.

"Go, Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Kangaskhan!" bellowed the parent Pokemon.

Ash Ketchum wondered if this was going to turn the fight around. Kangaskhan sure looked rather tough.

His question was answered when suddenly Kangaskhan hit Snorlax with Dizzy Punch.

"Snorlax!" bellowed the gluttonous Pokemon.

Immediately he began to feel rather...well, dizzy.

"Hang in there, Snorlax!" ordered Ash.

Unfortunately, due to being confused, Snorlax was just as likely to attack himself as he was Kangaskhan.

He chose the former, much to Ash's dismay, and he fainted.

Ash Ketchum sighed. He was hoping that Snorlax would last longer, but it wasn't meant to be.

Maybe he should have ordered Snorlax to Rest? That would have likely healed his injuries...but admittedly Kangaskhan would be able to attack him in the meantime.

Deciding to keep that in mind when he used Snorlax again, Ash decided to send out Squirtle.

"Go, Squirtle!" exclaimed Ash.

"Squirtle squirtle squirt!" bellowed Ash's Squirtle as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

"I wonder what would happen if I used Wartortle to defeat Squirtle..." questioned Jake.

Immediately, Jake instructed Kangaskhan to use Dizzy Punch once again...but unfortunately, Squirtle ducked underneath it.

"I guess it's hard for Kangaskhan to hit a Pokemon that small..." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" ordered Ash.

Squirtle immediately pelted Kangaskhan with water...which scored a critical hit.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Jake's Kangaskhan.

However, she didn't seem too terribly injured by the attack.

"Squirtle..." murmured Ash's Squirtle. Why couldn't that do more damage?

"Comet Punch!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Kangaskhan immediately hit Squirtle several times in rapid succession, causing him to fall on his shell.

"Squirtle squirt squirtle!" exclaimed Ash's Squirtle. Unfortunately, he had fallen and he was unable to get up, allowing Jake's Kangaskhan to get another attack in.

As soon as Kangaskhan hit Squirtle while he was down, he fainted.

Ash Ketchum sighed. That unfortunately seemed to be a big weakness of his.

Recalling Bulbasaur, Ash Ketchum sighed that it was time to send out his trusty Bulbasaur.

"Go, Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the boy.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Dizzy Punch!" commanded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Unfortunately, Kangaskhan wasn't able to hit Bulbasaur with the technique, much to Jake's chagrin.

"Poison Powder!" ordered Ash.

Immediately, Kangaskhan was poisoned.

"Kanga...skhan..." murmured Jake's Kangaskhan.

"Oh dear..." murmured Jake. It appeared that her battle with Snorlax and Squirtle had worn her down somewhat.

It became apparent that she wasn't going to last much longer on the battlefield.

"Use Dizzy Punch before you go down, I guess." ordered Jake.

Jake's Kangaskhan immediately hit Bulbasaur in the face, causing him to feel rather dizzy.

"Bulbasaur..." murmured the dinosaur Pokemon.

Unfortunately, rather than attack Kangaskhan, he attacked himself instead, much to Ash's irritation.

"Having a confused Pokemon is such a pain..." thought the ten-year-old.

However, on the plus side for Ash Ketchum, Kangaskhan was steadily becoming weaker and weaker.

"Use Comet Punch!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Kangaskhan hit Bulbasaur several times, significantly injured him.

Unfortunately for Kangaskhan, Bulbasaur was able to get off an attack this time...in this case, his Vine Whip.

Kangaskhan fainted, and Jake realized that he was going to have to send in another Pokemon.

Fortunately, he had just the Pokemon to defeat Bulbasaur.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed Jake.

"Golbat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

"Oh dear..." murmured Ash Ketchum. All of a sudden he was not liking his chances.

Maybe he should try switching out his Bulbasaur for his Pikachu? Then again, he was hoping to save him for last.

On the plus side, Bulbasaur had snapped out of confusion.

"Bulbasaur, try using Solarbeam!" exclaimed Ash.

Bulbasaur nodded as he began to charge energy to use against Golbat.

Of course, this gave Golbat the opportunity to hit Bulbasaur with Wing Attack.

"Bulbasaur!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. That really hurt.

On the plus side, Bulbasaur's Solarbeam was ready. He immediately fired it at Golbat.

Unfortunately, despite the potency of the move, Golbat wasn't hurt too much, as he had a quadruple type advantage against it.

Ash Ketchum sweatdropped. Personally he began to wonder what he was thinking.

Golbat once again hit Bulbasaur with Wing Attack, and he fainted.

Starting to get worried, Ash decided to use a flying Pokemon of his own.

"Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the boy.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Well, I don't think she's going to be as easy to defeat as Bulbasaur was..." noted Jake.

Jake's Golbat nodded.

"Then again, who said that this Pokemon battle was going to be easy?" questioned the male Pokemon trainer.

Jake's Golbat shrugged. He did enjoy a challenge.

Deciding to give Golbat a flying attack of his own, Ash ordered Pidgeotto to strike Jake's Golbat with Gust.

It was a critical hit, and Jake's Golbat took a lot of damage.

"Golbat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon.

"Hang in there!" commanded Jake.

Golbat nodded, though he doubted that he could take another hit like that.

"Try using Confuse Ray!" ordered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Golbat did so, and Pidgeotto was confused.

Unfortunately, Ash Ketchum did not wish to repeat his mistakes. He immediately recalled Pidgeotto and sent in Pikachu.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Ash's Pikachu.

"Your Pikachu doesn't like Pokeballs, huh?" asked Jake curiously.

"No, he does not." answered Ash.

"Well, neither does my Pokemon partner's Clefairy. Apparently she likes exploring the world of Pokemon...considering that she's from the moon, that's not very surprising." noted Jake.

"Yeah...Thunderbolt!" exclaimed the Pokemon trainer.

As soon as Golbat was hit by such a powerful electric attack, he instantly fainted.

"Whoa..." murmured Jake. This Pokemon battle was going to be harder than he thought.

Ash then recalled Pikachu and sent out Pidgeotto once more.

Knowing that his Machoke had a disadvantage against flying-types (though admittedly Pidgeotto wouldn't resist fighting attacks, since she was part normal type), Jake decided it was time to send out his starter Pokemon.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed the boy.

"Grimer!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

Ash immediately ordered Pidgeotto to use Gust once again.

However, this did not harm Grimer too much. Apparently, he had a fair amount of health, and not too bad defense either.

"Good to see you can endure hits..." noted Jake.

"Grimer!" cheered Jake's Grimer.

"Try using Sludge Bomb." suggested the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Grimer did so, and Pidgeotto was poisoned.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

"Hang in there!" ordered Ash.

Pidgeotto nodded...though personally she wondered how she was going to last against Grimer. He seemed rather...tough.

Hoping to gain a speed advantage, Pidgeotto used Agility to make herself much more agile...and therefore make her attacks that much more effective.

Of course, in the meantime, she was still taking damage from the poison, which doesn't doing her any favors at all.

Grimer pelted Pidgeotto with Sludge Bomb once again...she was now feeling quite weak, and was having trouble flying.

Getting desperate, Ash Ketchum ordered Pidgeotto to hit Grimer with Twister.

This proved to be rather effective...but in the end, Pidgeotto fainted.

Smiling in satisfaction, Jake recalled Grimer to get himself ready for Pikachu.

Thankfully, Pikachus did not have much defense against physical attacks, so he houldn't have too much trouble fighting him, right?

Then again, Pikachu's Thunderbolt seemed rather potent, if Golbat fainting instantly against the attack was anything to go by. Of course, Golbats were weak against electric Pokemon, but still.

"Go, Machoke!" exclaimed Jake.

"Machoke!" bellowed Jake's Machoke.

Immediately, Machoke began to flex her tremendous muscles.

"Pika pi..." murmured Ash's Pikachu. This made him feel rather unnerved.

Of course, Pikachu wasn't the one to give up easily. He had actually managed to defeat ground-type Pokemon in the past...though personally he had no idea how his electric attacks had managed to work on them.

It was something that he could not understand.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ash.

Ash's Pikachu immediately hit Machoke with a serious blast of electricity. Thankfully, he was not paralyzed.

Of course, this gave Machoke the opportunity to get his revenge on Pikachu...literally.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Pikachu. That really hurt.

However, Pikachu was not down for the count...he immediately hit Machoke with another Thunderbolt...and he fainted.

"Machoke..." murmured the macho Pokemon.

"Right then...it's just my Grimer and your Pikachu now, right?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt curiously.

Ash Ketchum nodded.

"Then we better make this count." stated Jake as he sent out his Grimer once again.

"Grimer grime!" bellowed Jake's Grimer.

Immediately, Jake ordered his Grimer to use Sludge Bomb, while Ash ordered his Pikachu to use Thunderbolt.

These moves produced a thick cloud of smoke, so that Ash and Jake could not see what was going on.

"What's happening?" asked the Pokemon trainer curiously.

"I'm not sure..." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

When the smoke cleared, it turned out that...

Pikachu and Grimer had both fainted.

"Wow..." murmured the boy.

"Looks like we have a stalemate!" exclaimed Ash.

"We sure do. Well, at least my Cubone evolved..." nodded Jake.

"I wonder what would have happened if my Charmeleon listened to me..." questioned the Pokemon trainer.

"I sure hope that he starts listening to you soon." acknowledged the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, I'll see you later! I'm going to go get my Gym Badge!" exclaimed Ash.

"Have fun!" answered Jake as Ash Ketchum went to the Pokemon Gym.

Speaking of the Fuschia City Pokemon Gym, he began to wonder how Lucy was doing.

"Here's hoping she does well against Janine...though personally I don't think it's going to matter whether she wins or not...since Koga said he simply wanted Lucy to battle her daughter..." noted Jake.

_Meanwhile..._

"Are you ready?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I think so. My father said that I'm doing very well, and that I just might end up surpassing him one day." answered Janine.

"Really?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah..." nodded the ninja mistress.

"Well, alright then...should I go first, or you?" asked Lucy.

"I guess I'll go first. Go, Arbok!" exclaimed Janine.

"Arbok!" bellowed the cobra Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

Deciding to go easy on Janine for the time being, Lucy decided to send out her Vulpix.

"Go, Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Vulpix!" bellowed the fire Pokemon as she was sent out from her Pokeball.

Unsurprisingly, Janine chose to have Arbok constrict Vulpix. Unfortunately, since Vulpix was rather hot, this made her feel rather sweaty.

"Arbok..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

In retaliation, Lucy instructed Vulpix to use Roar.

This terrified Arbok, and she was forced to let go of Vulpix.

Janine sighed. She was hoping that Arbok would be able to keep ahold of her opponent for longer than that.

"Got any new tricks for me?" asked Lucy curiously.

Vulpix nodded, and used Will-O-Wisp on Arbok.

Immediately, a spectral fireball was sent flying towards her from Vulpix's mouth...and she was burned.

"Arbok!" exclaimed Janine's Arbok. That rather scary-looking fireball was very hot.

"Arbok, use Bite!" commanded Janine.

Arbok immediately sank her teeth into Vulpix...but fortunately for Lucy she wasn't hurt too badly, mainly due to the fact that being burned was decreasing Arbok's attack power.

"Don't give up, my little ninja! Keep pressure on her!" ordered Koga.

"I will, papa!" answered Janine.

"It's nice to see that your daughter is giving you advice...personally I wonder how my Pokemon partner is doing...he said that he was going to train his Pokemon to get ready..." stated Lucy.

"If he wanted to, he could have just battled me...he's not the only one that needs to get his Pokemon stronger..." pointed out Janine.

"I guess he didn't think of that..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Somehow, she got the feeling that he was battling someone that she had met in the past...but she wasn't quite sure who.

"Use Flamethrower!" ordered Lucy.

Lucy's Vulpix immediately hit Arbok with a burst of fire from her mouth, doing a large amount of damage to the poison Pokemon.

"Arbok!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.

"Use Toxic!" commanded Janine.

Unsurprisingly, this badly poisoned Vulpix, who was now taking progressively increasing damage.

However, Arbok fainted shortly afterward.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. This Pokemon battle was off to a good start.

Janine sighed as she recalled her Arbok and sent out her Weezing.

"You can do this!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

Once again, Lucy instructed Vulpix to use Will-O-The-Wisp.

Much like Arbok before him, Weezing ended up getting burned.

"Weezing..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

"Use Sludge!" commanded Janine.

Weezing immediately spat out Sludge at Vulpix...which was a critical hit.

"Vulpix!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

And to make matters worse for Vulpix, the powerful poison was already starting to take effect.

"Clefairy..." muttered Lucy's Clefairy. Vulpix was losing health fast.

"Vulpix..." murmured the fox Pokemon.

"Use Flamethrower!" commanded Lucy.

Vulpix immediately pelted Weezing with fire in hopes that this would make him faint...but it wasn't quite enough.

Weezing hit Vulpix with another round of Sludge...combined with how badly poisoned Vulpix was, she fainted.

"Well, I guess it's time to send out another Pokemon..." noted Lucy as she sent out her Psyduck.

"Psyduck." murmured Psyduck as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

Of course, in order for Psyduck to use his psychic powers, he was going to need to take a blow to the head...and unfortunately, Lucy was not cruel enough to do such a thing to Psyduck.

If anything, she was incorruptible.

Fortunately, Weezing was willing to provide that...with Selfdestruct.

Weezing immediately Self-Destructed, catching Psyduck by surprise and causing him to fall and hit his head.

Thankfully, Psyduck was OK...however, he now had a headache, and he was ready to use his psychic abilities.

Janine sweatdropped. That didn't go too well.

"Next time...try using Self-Destruct against a stronger Pokemon...I think you could have won without using that move..." suggested Koga.

"I will remember that next time, father." nodded the ninja mistress.

In order to defeat Psyduck, Janine decided to send out her Beedrill.

"Beedrill!" exclaimed the bee Pokemon.

"Be careful, Psyduck...wouldn't want you to get stung." warned Lucy.

Psyduck nodded. Those stingers looked rather dangerous.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. How long was Psyduck going to last?

Unsurprisingly, Janine instructed Beedrill to use Toxic. By the looks of it, all of her Pokemon knew the technique, much like her father. He had no doubt trained her Pokemon how to use the move...or had simply given them a TM.

"Psyduck..." murmured the duck Pokemon. He was feeling rather ill.

"Hold on, Psyduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, Psyduck wasn't ready to give up. Immediately, he began to scream.

This caught Beedrill by surprise, who began to move away from Psyduck, allowing him to strike the bee Pokemon from a distance.

"Use Confusion!" commanded the female Pokemon trainer.

Psyduck immediately hit Beedrill with Confusion, doing a significant amount of damage.

However, Beedrill hit Psyduck with Fury Attack in retaliation, causing him to collapse on the spot.

Lucy sighed as she recalled her Psyduck. On the plus side, she had just the Pokemon to defeat Beedrill.

"Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the bird Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Use Gust!" ordered Lucy.

Pidgeotto immediately pelted Beedrill with wind, causing her to fall to the ground.

"Beedrill..." murmured the bee Pokemon.

Janine sighed as she recalled her Beedrill and sent out her last Pokemon...which was a Golbat.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed the ninja apprentice.

"Golbat!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Naturally, she instructed Golbat to inflict Lucy's Pidgeotto with Toxic.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

In retaliation, she began to speed herself up with Agility.

"You think that will help?" asked Lucy curiously.

Pidgeotto nodded. It was worth a shot.

After speeding herself with Agility, she followed up with using Twister on Golbat, spinning her around like a record.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon. That Twister really hurt.

Unfortunately, Golbat managed to hit Pidgeotto with Confuse Ray, causing her to begin to attack herself.

She hit herself on the head, and she fainted.

"Well, that was a bit embarrassing..." thought Lucy to herself.

Of course, she knew what Pokemon she wanted to send in now.

"Go, Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

Clefairy smiled as she climbed off of Lucy's back.

"Use Metronome!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy nodded, and Golbat found herself being buried in a Rock Slide.

This caused her to faint instantly.

Janine sighed. Her opponent's last Pokemon had managed to defeat her strongest Pokemon in just one shot.

Koga happily gave Lucy the Soul Badge for helping her daughter with her Pokemon training.

"Thank you very much." spoke Lucy. She immediately went to tell Jake the good news.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hey, Chris!" exclaimed Ned as he followed Chris on his bike.

As it turned out, she was done bike riding for the day, and had put away her bicycle in her backpack. How she could fit her bicycle in there, the world of Pokemon may never know.

"Hey there, Ned. Did you recover from that encounter with the Gym Leader's daughter?" asked Chris curiously.

"Yes, I did." nodded the boy.

"Good." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"So, how was your bike ride?" inquired Ned.

"Pretty fine. It was getting dark, so I decided to head on back to Fuschia City." stated Chris.

Sure enough, it was getting dark outside. Apparently, night was rapidly approaching.

"Oh, and I found these." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

Curious, Ned took a look at them, and discovered that Chris had obtained some Moon Stones.

"Wow...where did you find them?" asked Ned curiously.

"Somewhere along the way...I believe they become more visible during the night time...I don't think they called them Moon Stones for nothing." noted Chris.

"Right, of course not." nodded the boy.

"If you want we could try using them to evolve our Nidorino and our Nidorina..." questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Not a bad idea...I guess I'll do that if I ever want to use my Nidorina in a Pokemon battle..." noted Ned.

"Sounds good. I know that I'm going to use mine. Now if you excuse me I'm going to head to the Safari Zone." nodded Chris.

"Alright...I'm going to challenge the Gym Leader...of course, the Gym probably isn't still open...but it's worth a shot, right?" asked Ned curiously.

"Right, of course." acknowledged the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Chris left Ned to his own devices as she went to search for more Pokemon at the Safari Zone.

"I wonder if the Safari Zone is still open..." questioned Ned. Then again, not all Pokemon slept during the night, so it might be.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, how did I do, father?" asked Janine.

"Pretty good. You put up a decent fight against your opponent, even if admittedly you were a bit outmatched." explained Koga.

Janine smiled in satisfaction.

However, at that very moment, somebody came knocking on the gym door.

"Hmm? Who is it?" wondered the Gym Leader curiously.

As it turned out, it was one of the Safari Zone workers. He seemed rather frightened about something.

"What's the matter?" asked Koga curiously.

"It's Team Rocket! They're stealing Pokemon at the Safari Zone, and they're tipping over the Tauros! And they didn't pay the admission fee!" bellowed the Safari Zone employee.

"What?! Janine, you're in charge of the Gym while I'm gone! This is an emergency!" bellowed the ninja master.

"Are you sure I'm ready for this?" asked Janine.

"You'll be fine. I know you will. I won't be gone long, I promise!" exclaimed Koga.

"I hope so, father." nodded the ninja mistress.

Immediately, Koga left the Gym to deal with Team Rocket.

"Man, Team Rocket is such a problem for Kanto...I hope they all get arrested someday..." thought Janine.

At that very moment, Ned came into the Pokemon Gym.

"Um, hey there." explained the Gym Leader.

Immediately, she began to feel rather nervous.

"Is something the matter?" asked Ned.

"It's just my father hasn't left me in charge of the Gym before." explained Janine.

"I'm sure you can pull it off...you have a fair share of Pokemon yourself, don't you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer curiously.

"Yeah, I think so." nodded the female Gym Leader curiously.

"Well, alright then. Let's battle!" exclaimed Ned.

"OK." nodded Janine as she pulled out a Pokeball.

_Meanwhile..._

Knowing that Jake was likely busy battling the Gym Leader, she decided to go visit the Safari Zone Warden. Maybe he could give her advice about catching Pokemon when she went to visit the zone again...or maybe he would simply give her somethng nice. Either way, she was looking forward to visiting him.

Granted, she had already visited the Safari Zone and had caught a Dratini...but there might be other Pokemon of interest. Maybe there were Dragonair there as well? Heck, maybe there were even Dragonite.

Alternatively, she could try visiting his granddaughter. She heard that she was rather friendly. Maybe she would give Lucy advice on catching Pokemon at the Safari Zone as well?

Eventually, she chose the former. Maybe she could visit Warden Baoba's granddaughter some other time.

"Let's go pay him a visit, shall we Clefairy?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It was always nice to pay a friend a visit...even if they haven't really met said friend in person.

However, as soon as she arrived at Baoba's House, she and Clefairy gasped in shock.

It was the bikers that she and Jake had encountered earlier at Cycling Road. They were clearly up to no good, and they had parked their bikes right outside Warden Baoba's house.

Apparently, they had waited until nightfall before they began their plans against the warden...judging from what they had been doing during the daytime.

"Let's see what valuables he has in his house, shall we?" asked one of the bikers.

"We're going to be rich!" exclaimed another one of the bikers.

Undoubtedly, this was an emergency. Lucy realized that she had to stop the bikers from causing trouble. After all, the world of Pokemon wasn't going to save itself in the event that it ended up in dire jeopardy.

"Are you ready, Clefairy?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Clefairy!" nodded Lucy's Clefairy. Surely they would be able to defeat the bikers by themselves, right?

Still, she got the feeling that there were other bikers on the loose other than the ones planning to rob Warden Baoba's house...

Just where were they? And where were they headed?

Immediately, Lucy followed the bikers inside the warden's house. She was going to have to get ready for a fight...

_Oh no! It's the bikers that Lucy and Jake encountered earlier at Cycling Road! No doubt they're causing trouble once again._

_Of course, they'll inevitably want revenge on Lucy for what happened at Cycling Road earlier...can Lucy defeat them once again?_


	37. Chapter 37: The Tough Tentacools

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy's going to have to face the Tough Tentacools...are they really as tough as their name implies? Then again she already defeated them once...but admittedly she was with Jake when she first encountered them...this time she's going solo._

_Oh, and Jake's going to try rematching Koga again...but he's going to end up facing Janine instead, since she's the gym leader in her father's absence. Heh heh._

**Chapter 37: The Tough Tentacools**

"Please! Take whatever you want! Just don't hurt me!" exclaimed the warden.

Unsurprisingly, he was about to have a panic attack. Who would have thought that somebody would try to break into his home?

Then again, somebody had refused to return his dentures to him on the same day. Why were there so many cruel Pokemon trainers in the world?

Thankfully, there at least seemed to be some goodness in the world of Pokemon...since another Pokemon trainer had chose to return the dentures to him...two Pokemon trainers, in fact.

"What have you got for us, old man?" asked one of the bikers.

"Well, I have some Ultra Balls...that admittedly I never need to use...since I invented a new type of Pokeball for catching Pokemon...that's a trade secret..." pointed out the safari warden.

"Why don't you tell us how to make those Pokeballs?" inquired the biker.

"What? You'll ruin my business!" exclaimed Warden Baoba.

"Who cares about your business? You think we're interested in going on a Pokemon journey?" asked another one of the bikers.

At that very moment, Lucy came into the building.

"Stop right there!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. Admittedly she was a kleptomaniac, but even she knew what the bikers were doing was wrong.

The bikers immediately glared at Lucy.

"It's that little girl that bested us at Cycling Road!" bellowed the biker.

Warden Baoba raised an eyebrow.

"You happen to know these thugs?" asked Warden Baoba.

"I met them at Cycling Road...by the looks of it, they were causing a lot of trouble." explained Lucy.

"No kidding..." nodded the safari warden.

"This time we're going to pummel you! Go, Machoke!" exclaimed one of the bikers.

"Machoke!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon.

Unfortunately, the other bikers decided to Arcaninepile Lucy.

"Go, Haunter!" shouted another one of the bikers.

"Go, Tentacool!" exclaimed yet another one of the bikers.

Immediately, the bikers sent out a Haunter and a Tentacool respectively.

"Haunter!" bellowed the biker's Haunter.

"Tentacool!" exclaimed the jellyfish.

Not wanting to be outmatched, Lucy decided to send out her Psyduck and her Vulpix.

"Go, Psyduck! Go, Vulpix!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Psyduck!" shouted Lucy's Psyduck.

"Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy's Vulpix.

As soon as the bikers saw Lucy's Psyduck, they began to laugh.

"You're sending that Pokemon to fight us?!" exclaimed the biker.

"Oh ho ho ho! That's rich!" bellowed another one of the bikers.

"You're priceless!" bellowed the third biker.

"Psyduck?" asked Lucy's Psyduck. What was so funny?

Unfortunately for Lucy, Tentacool chose to single out Lucy's Vulpix. Apparently, he realized that Vulpix was a fire-type and that he was a water-type.

Vulpix found herself being hit by Bubblebeam.

"Vulpix!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Oh dear..." murmured Lucy.

As for Psyduck, Haunter was frightening him silly. He was running around in circles.

Unsurprisingly, this caused the bikers to laugh.

"Hahaha! Look at him run!" bellowed one of the bikers.

"This is hilarious!" shouted yet another one of the bikers.

As for Clefairy, well...Machoke was tossing her around the building.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. She was taking quite a beating. In fact, she started to wonder if she was a match for Machoke.

"This isn't good..." thought Lucy. This Pokemon battle was off to a bad start.

Immediately, she began to wonder if she should call Jake for help. Granted, she had three Pokemon left other than the ones that she had already sent out...but how long were her first three Pokemon going to last?

Hopefully she could at least score a moral victory...right?

Suddenly, Psyduck crashed into one of the display cases in the warden's office.

"Psyduck!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

He hit his head...really hard.

"Psyduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, the bikers began to laugh at the water Pokemon's misfortune. Apparently the suffering of Pokemon amused them.

"That was hilarious!" bellowed the biker.

"I'm glad we came to rob the safari warden!" exclaimed another one of the bikers.

"I'd love to see that again!" shouted the third biker.

However, due to taking such a blow to the head...this made something click inside Psyduck.

"Psyduck..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Suddenly, he began to evolve.

"Huh?" asked the biker curiously.

When he finished evolving...well, for some strange reason, he wasn't yellow anymore...he was blue.

Also, he didn't look quite so goofy.

"Golduck!" bellowed the evolved duck Pokemon.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

Immediately, he began to glare at the bikers that had made fun of him earlier. They began to feel rather nervous.

Now much stronger than he was back when he was still a Psyduck, Golduck decided to show up his newfound power by hitting Haunter with a powerful Confusion attack.

"Haunter!" bellowed the ghost Pokemon.

Apparently, he didn't need to have a headache to use psychic abilities anymore.

Lucy scanned her new Golduck with her Pokedex.

"Golduck, the Duck Pokemon. Its webbed hands and feet make it a proficient swimmer, and particularly enjoys swimming in lakes." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

Golduck then followed up by using Confusion on Tentacool, causing him to become confused.

He then moved on to Machoke, causing him to drop the now battered Clefairy and fall to the ground.

Suffice to say, this allowed Lucy's Vulpix and her Clefairy to turn the tables.

Immediately, Lucy's Clefairy hit Tentacool with a Thunderbolt using her Metronome, causing Tentacool to faint almost immediately.

This gave Lucy's Vulpix the opportunity to hit Haunter with Flamethrower, which caused him to faint as well.

Finally, Golduck hit Machoke with another Confusion, and he fainted instantly.

Suffice to say, the bikers were rather shocked at this occurance. They had clearly not thought Psyduck to be a threat, but they were proven wrong.

"Let's get out of here!" bellowed one of the bikers.

"I'm not going up against that...thing!" exclaimed the second biker.

"Every man for himself!" bellowed the third biker.

"Good thing they only had one Pokemon each..." noted Lucy.

Suffice to say, Warden Baoba was very grateful for Lucy for her help.

"Thank you! I don't know what I would have done without you! I already had my dentures stolen today...and I'd flip if I lost anything else this night too!" exclaimed the warden.

"You sure are having a bad day, huh?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I sure am...though admittedly it's been much better with friendly Pokemon trainers like yourself helping me...is there anything I can do to repay you?" asked the safari warden.

Curious, Lucy's Clefairy decided to examine the display case that Golduck had bumped into earlier.

As it turned out, there was a Fire Stone inside.

Vulpix must have noticed it as well, because immediately she began to feel rather excited.

Immediately, Clefairy picked up the Fire Stone and handed it to Lucy.

"Hmm? You think we should have this?" asked Lucy curiously.

Clefairy nodded.

"OK, but you better not steal it." warned the female Pokemon trainer.

Clefairy shook her head. Granted, she was tempted to pilfer a thing or two from the warden...but since he was an elderly man, and that she felt that she should respect her elders, she decided it was best not to.

"Hmm? You want my Fire Stone? By all means take it...I don't think that there are any Pokemon in the Safari Zone that could evolve with it anyway..." noted the safari warden.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

Vulpix happily jumped into the air.

"You wouldn't happen to be able to evolve using a FIre Stone, now would you?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

Vulpix nodded.

"Good for you, then. Are you ready to evolve now?" asked the female Pokemon trainer curiously.

Vulpix thought about this for a moment...and decided that it could wait until tommorrow. She was starting to feel rather sleepy.

"OK, we'll try using the Fire Stone tommorrow." nodded Lucy.

Vulpix smiled.

Fortunately, the Pokemon Center had some free beds that she could use...though as she went to sleep, she began to wonder where Jake was.

Was he doing OK?

_Meanwhile..._

Jake immediately headed to the Pokemon Gym to battle Koga. He was now feeling rather confident in himself after his battle with Ash Ketchum.

Granted, neither he nor his opponent had managed to win the Pokemon battle...but considering that Jake's Cubone had evolved into a Marowak, he didn't really lose either.

He began to head to the gym to battle the Gym Leader...only to find out that he was already having a gym match...

Wait, was that actually Koga?

Curious, Jake took a closer look, and discovered that it was in fact his daughter Janine.

Where had Koga gone? Did he vanish and leave a log behind?

"Hmm..." questioned the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Shrugging, he decided to sit down and watch Ned battle with the Gym Leader. As it turned out, they had just started their Gym Battle, judging from the fact that they had both sent out their first Pokemon.

He got the feeling that the battle was going to take a while, so he decided that he needed to be patient.

"Go, Arbok!" exclaimed Janine.

Immediately, Ned began to think of what his starter Pokemon should be.

Quickly, it became apparent to Ned that he should try using Graveler, since she was part ground-type.

"Go, Graveler!" bellowed Ned.

"Graveler!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

At that very moment, Ned and Janine noticed that Jake was watching in the sidelines.

"Um, hi?" asked Jake curiously.

"Hey there! Are you here to cheer me on?" inquired Ned curiously.

"Where is Chris?" inquired the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"She's at the Safari Zone, trying to catch Pokemon after dark." explained the boy.

"Guess she doesn't fall asleep easily..." noted Jake.

"Well, considering that she can resist a Jigglypuff's singing, I think that's rather obvious." spoke Ned.

"Yeah..." nodded the preteen boy.

Knowing that Graveler wasn't going to faint easily otherwise, Janine immediately instructed her Arbok to use Toxic.

This made Graveler feel rather ill...but he was still ready for battle.

Ned instructed Graveler to use Magnitude on Arbok...and what a magnitude it was.

In fact, the entire gym began to shake.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Janine.

Arbok immediately fainted. The ninja mistress sighed as she recalled her Pokemon and got ready to send out another one.

"Go, Weezing!" bellowed the kunoichi.

"Weezing!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

"I can't send my Golbat to fight that Graveler...and I shouldn't send my Beedrill to fight it either..." thought Janine.

Suffice to say, unless Weezing managed to defeat Graveler, she was in a bind.

Fortunately for Janine, Graveler was now taking significant amounts of damage from the poison that Arbok had inflicted upon her earlier.

In fact, it looked like she was going to faint soon.

Taking her chances, Janine instructed Weezing to hurl a Sludge Bomb at Graveler.

This caused her to faint, much to Ned's dismay.

"I was thinking that you would last a bit longer..." said the boy.

"Graveler..." murmured the unfortunate rock Pokemon.

"Ah well. I can't always win." noted the boy.

Immediately, Ned began to think of the next Pokemon he wanted to use.

"Let me think..." thought the boy.

Shrugging, he decided that he wanted to send out Growlithe.

"Go, Growlithe!" bellowed the nerd.

"Growlithe!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Well, if my Weezing faints, I won't be sending out Beedrill next." thought the gym leader.

Immediately, Ned ordered Growlithe to hit Weezing with Flamethrower.

"Weezing!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Weezing, since she was full of hot air, it appeared that she was vulnerable to fire-type techniques.

Starting to feel desperate, Janine ordered Weezing to Self-Destruct.

She nodded, and both Growlithe and Weezing fainted simutaneously.

However, at that very moment, they began to hear something strange.

"What's going on out there?" asked Ned curiously. There seemed to be a commotion outside.

Curious, Jake put his hand near his ear so that he could hear what was going on more clearly.

He realized that the strange noises outside happened to be motorbikes...and he got a bad feeling what was happening.

"Bikers are coming!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Bikers? What are they doing there? My father said that they only hanged out at Cycling Road and they rarely visited the city itself..." questioned Janine.

"I, er, may have made them mad." explained Jake.

"You did? How come?" asked Janine.

"Well, my friend and I encountered them when we decided to go on a bicycle ride at Cycling Road...they were bothering us so we decided to step up to them...we managed to defeat their leader..." spoke the boy.

"I wish I were that tough..." noted Ned.

"Congratulations...but I take it they want revenge now?" asked Janine curiously.

"By the looks of it, yes." explained Jake.

Immediately, the bikers entered the gym. Standing in front of them was Johnny, who was looking rather angry.

"You thought you could humilate us and get away with it, did you? Well, guess what? We're mad! Now we're going to take your gym badges!" exclaimed Johnny.

"My gym badges? I worked hard for those!" bellowed Jake. He sure didn't want to have to go all the way back to Pewter City and start explaining what happened to the gym leaders...

"Well, too bad! Consider this the price for messing with us!" bellowed the leader of the bikers.

"Hold it. I will not tolerate larceny in this gym...even if admittedly this gym belongs to my father and not me..." spoke the ninja mistress.

"What's this? It appears that a little girl's in the gym for the time being...that certainly makes things easier for us, doesn't it?" questioned Johnny.

Immediately, the other bikers began to laugh.

"Right then...we can do this the easy way or the hard way...either you give us the badges, or our Pokemon and I force them from you!" exclaimed the leader of the Tough Tentacools.

"Didn't we already defeat you once?" asked Jake.

"Yes, but this time your little friend isn't there to save you!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Oh yeah..." nodded the preteen Pokemon trainer. Just where was she? Somehow he got the feeling that Lucy had run into some of the bikers as well.

"Well, I have him."

Sure enough, Jake pointed to Ned. He began to feel very nervous.

"What? Him?! Don't make us laugh!" bellowed the leader of the Tough Tentacools.

However, realizing that the bikers were going to rob his friend, he decided that it was best to stand up to the bikers.

"Go, Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

The bikers gasped in shock.

"Did-did you say Gyarados?!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Yes, I did." nodded the boy.

Immediately, the bikers realized that they could be in a very bad situation...ironically enough, Johnny always wanted a Gyarados, as he heard that they were very destructive.

Not wanting to give up, Johnny instructed the bikers to Growlithepile Gyarados.

"Get him!" bellowed the teenage biker.

Sure enough, the bikers sent out a Grimer, a Koffing, an Ekans, a Magnemite, and a Beedrill respectively.

Ned scanned the Magnemite with his Pokedex.

"Magnemite, the Magnet Pokemon. It has the ability to defy gravity, and flies around with powerful electromagnetic waves." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Interesting..." noted the boy.

Apparently, Janine and Koga weren't the only ones that specialized in poison-types...or at least these particular bikers did anyway. How many bikers were there in the Tough Tentacools, anyway?

To be honest, Jake had lost count since the last time he had encountered them.

Immediately, the Pokemon began to do as their trainers said...though admittedly Gyarados was very strong, he was having problems dealing with so many Pokemon at once.

Fortunately for Ned, the Gym Leader decided not to stand on the sidelines...she actually chose to help him.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed Janine.

"Golbat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

Immediately, Janine instructed Golbat to use Confuse Ray on the biker's Pokemon...an energy ball appeared and bounced across the four Pokemon.

Suddenly, rather than attack Gyarados, they began to fight each other instead.

Johnny was not amused.

"Pull yourself together!" bellowed the teenage biker.

"Thanks for help." answered Ned.

"Don't mention it..." spoke the mistress.

"For that, we're going to be stealing all your Soul Badges!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Aren't those just shiny pieces of metal?" asked Jake.

"In a sense..." noted Janine.

"What? Don't be ridiculous! Those are our tickets to get in the Pokemon League!" bellowed the biker.

"You're not going to do well in the Pokemon League if you steal your badges rather than earn them..." noted Jake.

"We're the strongest Pokemon trainers there are! Don't be silly!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Then why did we and Lucy beat you back at Cycling Road?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"That was a fluke! And this time she's not here to save you!" bellowed the biker.

"Have you forgotten about me?" asked Ned curiously.

"Hmm?" inquired the teenage hoodlum.

Immediately, Gyarados began to thrash the biker's Pokemon. They began to faint left and right...and things began to look bleak for Johnny.

"What? No!" bellowed the leader of the Tough Tentacools.

"Way to go, Ned!" exclaimed Jake.

"I wasn't sure I had in mind me...but I guess it was worth it to stand up to those thugs." stated Ned.

Sure enough, Johnny decided to enter the fray himself.

"This time, I'm going to win! I promise you that!" exclaimed Johnny as he began to send out his Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Jake, he appeared to have more Pokemon since their last encounter.

"Go, Magneton! Go, Pinsir!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Magneton!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Pinsir!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

"Well, this isn't going to be as easy as before..." noted Jake.

Jake scanned Magneton with his Pokedex.

"Magneton, the Magnet Pokemon. It consists of several Magnemite magnetized together, and generates strange radio signals." explained Jake's Pokedex.

"Where did they all gather together, anyway? The power plant?" asked Jake curiously.

Ned scanned Pinsir with his Pokedex.

"Pinsir, the Stag Beetle Pokemon. If it can't crush its victims with its pincers, it will instead swing them around and fling." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"That doesn't sound good..." murmured Ned.

At that very moment, he decided to enter the fray himself.

"Go, Wartortle!" exclaimed the boy.

"Wartortle!" bellowed the water Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Use Water Gun!" ordered Jake.

Wartortle immediately hit Pinsir with a powerful burst of water.

"Pinsir!" exclaimed the pinsir Pokemon.

Seizing the opportunity, Gyarados hit Pinsir with Thrash as well.

However, he became confused shortly afterwards due to fatigue.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned.

Unfortunately, Johnny had Pinsir seize the opportunity too.

Suddenly, he aimed his pincers at Gyarados's neck...and much to Ned's surprise, he fainted easily.

"What happened?" asked Ned curiously.

He then recalled how that there were certain techniques that could make a Pokemon faint instantly.

"Oh, right." remembered the boy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Ned was now at a disadvantage...Pinsir had just made his strongest Pokemon faint with ease.

Apparently he was going to have a different Pokemon...preferably one with a smaller neck.

Starting to feel rather desperate, Ned decided it was time to use the Moon Stone he found at Cycling Road earlier.

Immediately, he sent out his Nidorina...

...and gave her a Moon Stone.

Suddenly, Nidorina began to evolve.

"Nidorina!" cheered the poison Pokemon.

When the evolution was over, Nidorina was now a Nidoqueen.

"Well, hopefully you'll be a match for Johnny now..." noted Ned.

Ned's new Nidoqueen nodded. She was sure that she could handle the leader of the Tough Tentacools.

Then again, Gyarados had already fainted due to a well-placed Guillotine from Pinsir, so she was going to have to be cautious and not take too many chances.

Fortunately, Golbat had managed to score a critical hit on Pinsir with Wing Attack.

"Pinsir!" bellowed the beetle Pokemon.

Nidoqueen followed up by hitting Pinsir with Body Slam, paralyzing him.

"Pinsir..." murmured the bug Pokemon.

Suffice to say, it looked like he wouldn't be using his pincers against any more of Ned's Pokemon.

This gave Jake the opportunity to finish off Pinsir once and for all with Rapid Spin.

"Pinsir..." murmured the fainted bug Pokemon.

Throwing Pinsir's Pokeball in frustration, Johnny recalled Pinsir so that he could send out his next Pokemon.

"Go, Graveler!" bellowed Johnny.

"Graveler!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

"Not a ground type..." murmured Janine. She was feeling dismayed that all of her Pokemon were weak against ground-types...but since she and her father were both poison-type specialists, it was apparently a price that she was going to have to pay.

However, as it turned out, Graveler was no match for Jake's Wartortle.

Immediately, the rock-type found himself being soaked by water from the turtle Pokemon, doing enormous amounts of damage.

"Graveler! Gravel gravel gravel!" panicked Graveler.

Johnny facepalmed. Why didn't he send out Tentacruel?

"Stupid type disadvantages..." muttered the biker under his breath. If only he had an electric type or a grass type.

On the other hand, he still had Magneton. to use...he immediately decided to send him to deal with Wartortle.

"Magneton!" bellowed the magnet Pokemon.

Jake sighed. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to use Wartortle to fight Graveler anymore...otherwise, Magneton would make her faint right then and there.

Fortunately, though electric attacks were super-effective against water-types, electric Pokemon themselves did not actually resist water attacks.

"Keep using Water Gun." ordered Jake.

Jake's Wartortle did so, pelting Magneton with water. Unfortunately, it began to lock onto Wartortle, meaning that its next attack was guaranteed to hit.

"Not good..." thought the male Pokemon trainer.

In the meantime, Graveler used Rock Slide on Janine's Golbat.

"Golbat!" bellowed the bat Pokemon.

Suffice to say, it was rather unfortunate that two of Janine's Pokemon had already fainted during her battle with Ned.

On the plus side, it looked as if Golbat would be able to battle a little longer.

"Use Confuse Ray!" ordered Janine.

Janine's Golbat immediately confused Graveler, causing him to attack Magneton instead of Golbat.

"Oh c'mon!" bellowed the biker.

And to make matters worse, Graveler chose to use Magnitude.

Fortunately for Golbat, she was a flying type and thus she was unharmed completely. Unfortunately for Nidoqueen and Wartortle, they did not have this luxury, and they took a significant amount of damage.

As for Magneton itself...

"Magneton..." murmured the fainted electric Pokemon.

"This isn't over! This time I'm sending out my trump card! You're finished!" bellowed Johnny as he recalled his Magneton.

"Go, Tentacruel!" bellowed the teen.

This time, our heroes found themselves dealing with Johnny's strongest Pokemon.

Of course, Jake knew what to expect.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed the jellyfish Pokemon.

Fortunately for Ned, since Nidoqueen was part ground-type, she would be able to resist Tentacruel's poison attacks. However, for that same reason, Nidoqueen would also be vulnerable to water attacks.

Shrugging, he decided it was time to finish off Graveler before he fainted Janine's Golbat...which he seemed fairly close to doing.

"Know any ground-type attacks?" asked Ned curiously.

Nidoqueen began to think of this for a moment...

...but unfortunately, it appeared that Nidoqueen couldn't learn many moves outside of a TM.

"Oh dear..." murmured the boy. Hopefully he could find some TMs soon.

Shrugging, Nidoqueen decided to elect Body Slamming into Tentacruel instead. Considering how strong she was, this was as good of a strategy as any.

Unfortunately, this allowed Tentacruel to Constrict Nidoqueen somewhat easily, but this didn't hurt her much.

And of course, Tentacruel couldn't constrict multiple Pokemon at once, so Wartortle and Golbat were safe.

Wartortle immediately hit Graveler with another round of Water Gun, and Graveler fainted.

"I cannot believe this is happening again!" bellowed Johnny.

"Sometimes things just have a way of repeating themselves..." noted Jake.

Nidoqueen managed to break free of Tentacruel's tentacles and hit the jellyfish Pokemon with another Body Slam, causing him to faint easily.

"Well, I guess we won." sighed Ned. He seemed rather relieved.

"You had better not try to steal my father's Soul Badges again...or he's going after you and your gang!" warned Janine.

"Fine! To be honest, I'm tired of hanging out at the Cycling Road anyway. I want to head somewhere else...somewhere more remote." spoke the biker.

"You mean like an island?" asked Ned.

"Yes! That's it! Let's go head to an island someday!" exclaimed Johnny.

The bikers nodded, and they all left the gym.

Ned sweatdropped. Did he just gave a thug advice?

"Well, congratulations for helping me defeat those bikers...if you want I can give you some Soul Badges for your help..." spoke Janine.

"Really? I'll take one!" exclaimed Ned.

Janine immediately handed Ned a Soul Badge, causing him to blush.

The ninja mistress offered to give Jake one as well, but he said that he'd rather have a gym battle frist.

"Oh? Well OK then...let's go heal up our Pokemon first, shall we?" asked Janine.

"Sure." nodded Jake.

_Meanwhile..._

As it turned out, Chris was taking her Onix for a ride along with her Jigglypuff. She had to admit, she hadn't used her Onix in a while...now seemed like the best time.

Of course, she wasn't allowed to use her Onix to battle wild Pokemon in the Safari Zone unless it was an emergency...and since all the wild Pokemon in the zone were very docile, she felt that it wouldn't be necessary.

Curious, she noticed that the Gym Leader of Fuschia Gym was outside the Safari Zone.

She began to wonder what he was doing.

"Hey there, Koga! Are you catching Pokemon too?" asked the tomboy curiously.

"Not necessarily. You see, I'm looking for Pokemon criminals...a friend of mine tipped me off that Team Rocket was catching Pokemon around here..." spoke Koga.

"Really? If you want I could give you a hand..." noted Chris.

"Be careful. This is Team Rocket we're speaking of..." noted the Gym Leader.

"Right, of course." spoke the Pokemon trainer. Hopefully their leader wasn't nearby, or she and Koga would both be in trouble.

But as it turned out, there were not...just two Team Rocket Grunts that Chris knew personally.

"Oh brother..." murmured Chris.

It was none other than Jessie and James. They had captured several Pokemon without the Safari Warden's permission and were loading them on their Meowth hot air balloon.

"This is great, Jessie! Giovanni is going to be proud of us!" exclaimed James.

"When he is proud of us?" asked Jessie curiously.

"I'm sure he'll cut us some slack once we deliver all these rare Pokemon to him. I think we even got a Chansey!" exclaimed James.

"Meowth! That's right!" nodded Meowth.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Koga.

Curious, Jessie and James looked around, and discovered that there was a Gym Leader standing a few feet away from them.

"Um, Jessie? I think we might be in trouble...it's one of the eight Gym Leaders of Kanto!" exclaimed James.

"What?" inquired Jessie curiously.

"And look! He brought one of those twerps with him!" exclaimed James.

"So?" asked the female Team Rocket Grunt curiously.

"We can't fight a Gym Leader! We're hardpressed to face that twerp and his Pikachu as it is!" bellowed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Meowth! That's right!" bellowed Meowth.

"Well, when you put it that way..." spoke Jessie.

Immediately, Jessie, James, and Meowth began to retreat.

"Looks like we're blasting off ahead of schedule!" exclaimed Team Rocket.

"Huh. I guess they're a bunch of cowards. Not a big surprise." murmured Chris.

"They're not going to get far. Go, Weezing!" exclaimed Koga as he tossed a Pokeball.

"Weezing!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Weezing began to attack Team Rocket's Balloon with Sludge Bomb.

"Does anyone feel a strange sense of irony?" asked James.

Pretty soon, Team Rocket's Balloon crashed to the ground.

"We're stranded!" bellowed Meowth.

"I guess we're going to fight our way out of this." noted Jessie.

Fortunately for Jessie and James, they happened to have caught some new Pokemon since their previous encounter with our heroes.

"Go, Lickitung!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Go, Victreebel!" bellowed James.

"Lickitung!" bellowed the long-tongued Pokemon.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed the pitcher Pokemon.

"Huh. That's new." noted Chris.

Chris scanned the Lickitung with her Pokedex.

"Lickitung, the Licking Pokemon. Its tongue is almost seven feet long, and can induce paralysis on its enemies!" bellowed Chris's Pokedex.

"That's one long tongue." remarked the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately, Lickitung immediately went for Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed Jigglypuff.

Jigglypuff was immediately wrapped by Lickitung's tongue. It was rather...slimy.

"Jiggly..." murmured the balloon Pokemon. Already this was starting to feel very unpleasant.

"Onix, you should give her a hand." spoke Chris.

Fortunately for Jigglypuff, Onix immediately hurled rocks at Lickitung, forcing him to let go.

"Licki..." murmured the unfortunate Lickitung.

Unfortunately, James did something smart for a change and ordered Victreebel to use Giga Drain on Onix.

"Onix!" exclaimed Chris's Onix. Man, did that hurt.

Realizing that Onix was going to faint quickly against Victreebel, Chris decided to switch out in favor of Nidorino.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, he noticed the Moon Stone Chris had, and decided to snatch it for himself to take a look.

"Hmm?" asked Chris curiously.

Unsurprisingly, this caused Nidorino to evolve into Nidoking...he actually seemed a bit surprised by that occurance.

"Nidoking?" asked Nidoking curiously.

"You do realize that Nidorinos evolve when they touch Moon Stones, right?" asked Chris curiously.

Nidoking suddenly remembered this.

"Anyways..." murmured Chris as she scanned Nidoking with her Pokedex.

"Nidoking, the Drill Pokemon. It uses its powerful tail to smash, constrict, and break its enemies' bones!" explained Chris's Pokedex.

"Sheesh." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Nidoking grabbed Lickitung by the tongue and started shaking him back and forth.

"Lickitung!" bellowed the licking Pokemon.

He began to hit Lickitung with Thrash.

"Licki!" exclaimed the long-tongued Pokemon.

As for Victreebel, she found herself facing Weezing, who pelted Victreebel with Sludge Bomb.

"Victree!" screeched James' Victreebel. She may be part poison-type, but that Sludge Bomb still hurt.

Seizing her opportunity, Jigglypuff began to Sing, causing Victreebel and Lickitung to both fall asleep and making them vulnerable.

Weezing hit both Victreebel and Lickitung with Self-Destruct, causing them both to faint.

Jessie and James began to doubt their chances, but they decided not to give up. They had been trying to capture Pikachu since forever, hadn't they?

"Go, Arbok!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Go, Weezing!" bellowed James.

"Arbok!" screeched Jessie's Arbok.

"Weezing!" shouted James's Weezing.

"Huh. I guess you evolved your starters...well, you're not the only ones who have been evolving their Pokemon..." noted Chris.

"Nidoking!" bellowed the poison and ground Pokemon.

This time, Koga chose to send out his Muk.

"Go, Muk!" exclaimed Koga.

"Muk!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

Unfortunately, since both of them were Poison types...he wasn't going to be able to use Toxic on them.

"Hmm..." thought the Gym Leader.

Nidoking proceeded to thrash Arbok, doing large amounts of damage.

"Arbok!" bellowed the snake Pokemon.

Fortunately, Nidoking wasn't confused yet, so he was still able to continue using the technique.

This time, he hit Weezing with Thrash.

"Weeze!" bellowed the unfortunate poison-type.

Muk hurled Sludge at Arbok and Weezing. Naturally, this wasn't very effective, but since Arbok and Weezing were severely weakened by Nidoking, they both fainted.

Jessie and James had lost once again.

Chris then had her Onix slam into Jessie, James, and Meowth, sending them both flying.

"Looks like we're not going to be stealing from the Safari Zone again!" exclaimed Team Rocket as they were sent flying away.

"Serves them right." answered Chris.

"Shouldn't we have tried to call Officer Jenny to arrest them?" asked Koga.

"Relax. They're not a threat to anyone." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"I hope you're right." nodded Koga as he went back to the Pokemon Gym.

Deciding that she was satisfied with her Nidorino evolving, Chris decided to head back to the Pokemon Center for the night.

Sure enough, she saw Ned, who seemed rather happy to see her.

"Ah, there you are. I have to admit I hadn't seen you in a while." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"I got my Soul Badge!" exclaimed Ned.

"Oh, you did? Lucky you." answered Chris.

"Yeah...the Gym Leader let me had it since I helped her defeat the bikers..." murmured Ned.

"Wait...did you say her?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...Koga put his daughter in charge of the gym while he was away..." explained the boy.

"Funny you should mention that. I helped him defeat Team Rocket..." asked Chris.

"Team Rocket?!" exclaimed Ned.

"Yeah...fortunately it was just Jessie and James this time...though I will admit that they had new Pokemon since our previous encounter..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's interesting." noted the boy.

"Anyways, I guess we should be heading to Saffron City now..." spoke Chris.

"Sure!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned and Chris immediately went to Saffron City so that they could challenge the Gym Leader there.

Little did they know at the very moment, Team Rocket was up to something at a certain building at the city...

...something that could be a threat to the world of Pokemon.

_Oh dear. Team Rocket is up to no good again. At this very moment, Giovanni is planning to invade Silph Co, in case you don't remember._

_It looks like it's another job for our heroes..._

_Unfortunately, Team Rocket isn't the only ones that are heading there at the moment...I can tell you that...our heroes are going to encounter some Pokemon trainers that aren't friends of theirs..._

_See you!_


	38. Chapter 38: The Fighting Dojo

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to head to the Fighting Dojo...once Jake has finished battling Janine, of course._

_Also, one of Jake's Pokemon is going to evolve...but unfortunately, he's going to start becoming disobedient...yes, I foreshadowed that a bit when I included Ash Ketchum's Charmeleon...which as we all know stopped obeying him upon evolution..._

_Can you guess which one?_

**Chapter 38: The Fighting Dojo**

Deciding that his Marowak would be his first choice of Pokemon, Jake immediately tossed his Pokeball.

"Go, Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

"Marowak!" bellowed the ground Pokemon, who immediately pulled out his bone club.

"Go, Arbok!" shouted Janine.

"Arbok!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Arbok tried to scare Marowak by hissing at him, but thankfully the ground-type wasn't scared too easily.

For the moment, it appeared that Jake had the advantage...but he realized that he was going to have to be careful. He didn't want the Gym Battle to end in disaster.

"Use Bonemerang!" commanded Jake.

Jake's Marowak hit Arbok twice, doing significant damage to Arbok each time.

"Arbok..." murmured the cobra Pokemon. She had been fighting Marowak for only a few seconds, and already she was losing.

Jake immediately realized this, and began to smile. Hopefully this Gym Battle would go better than the battle against Koga, knowing how badly Marowak had fared against him back when he was still a Cubone.

"Use Toxic!" commanded Janine.

Unfortunately, Marowak ended up being badly poisoned, so he wasn't going to last on the battlefield for too long. Would he be able to defeat Arbok before the poison overwhelmed him? Then again, Marowak did seem to be making short work of the cobra Pokemon.

"I don't know who to root for..." thought Ned. On one hand, it was his friend that was on the battlefield...on the other hand, there was a pretty girl on the battlefield too.

"Marowak..." murmured the skull Pokemon.

"At least you seem to be doing better than before..." noted Jake.

Once again, Jake instructed Marowak to use Bonemerang, and this time, Arbok fainted.

Sighing, Janine decided it was time to send out another Pokemon.

"That Marowak sure is going to cause me trouble..." thought the kunoichi.

This time, she chose to send out her Beedrill.

"Go, Beedrill!" exclaimed the kunoichi.

"Beedrill!" shouted the bee Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"Well, this is going to...sting..." noted Jake.

Sure enough, Beedrill was preparing to sting Marowak with her poisonous stingers. Then again, Marowak was already poisoned, so that probably wouldn't be necessary.

"Don't let him swat you with that bone club of his!" warned Janine.

Beedrill nodded. Just because she was a bug doesn't mean that she was going to let herself be squished.

"Marowak..." murmured the skull Pokemon. Fighting a Beedrill was usually painful, no small part thanks to those venomous stingers. Thankfully, they usually weren't dangerous unless they attacked in swarms...

Then again, Beedrills had a tendency to attack in swarms.

"I sure hope Marowak isn't allergic to Beedrill stings..." thought Ned. Then again, he hadn't heard of a Pokemon that had allergies before.

Fortunately, despite the fact that Beedrills were capable of flight, Jake was still able to have Marowak hit her with his bone attacks.

However, the poison that Arbok had inflicted earlier was starting to take its toll.

"Marowak..." murmured the skull Pokemon.

And of course, Beedrill was fighting back.

"Use Fury Attack!" instructed Janine.

Beedrill stung Marowak five different times, which nearly made him panic. Thankfully, he ultimately kept his cool.

Jake instructed Marowak to hit Beedrill with Bonemerang once again, and she fainted.

However, Marowak himself fainted shortly afterwards.

"Toxic sure makes Pokemon faint quickly..." spoke Ned.

"I guess I'm going to have to send out another Pokemon..." noted Jake.

This time, he chose to send out Wartortle.

"It's your turn to shine." said Giovanni's former henchman.

"Wartortle!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

This time, Janine chose to send out Weezing.

"Weezing!" bellowed the balloon Pokemon.

Jake instructed Wartortle to use Water Gun on Weezing.

"Weezing!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon. Luckily for Wartortle, she managed to score a critical hit.

In fact, it looked as if Weezing was going to faint soon.

"Wow." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Way to go, Wartortle!" exclaimed Ned. Apparently he had decided to root for Jake, simply because he had known him longer than Janine.

Unfortunately, Weezing didn't like it that she was fighting a losing battle, and Janine had her Self-Destruct.

This caused both Wartortle and Weezing to faint simutaneously.

"Weezing..." murmured the balloon Pokemon.

"Wartortle..." whispered the turtle Pokemon.

Shrugging, Janine and Jake both recalled their Pokemon simutaneously.

"Maybe i should try using that technique if I find my Pokemon is fighting a losing battle..." noted Ned. Then again, he wasn't sure if any of his Pokemon could learn the technique.

Jake sighed. At least there was only one Pokemon left to go, right? He was pretty sure that he still had two Pokemon, so it appeared that things were looking good for him.

This time, he decided to send out his Golbat.

Likewise, Janine decided to send out a Golbat of her own.

All of a sudden, Ned began to feel a bit confused.

"Um, which one is which?" asked the boy curiously.

"Well, one of them is male while the other is female..." explained Jake.

Unfortunately for Janine, this gave her an idea.

Suddenly, she instructed Golbat to use Attract on Jake's Golbat.

This caused Jake's Golbat to fall in love, and he wasn't interested in fighting.

"Uh-oh..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Janine's Golbat then followed up by using Confuse Ray, causing Jake's Golbat to become confused as well.

Suffice to say, Golbat was going to have a very hard time attacking and defending.

"Oh man..." murmured Jake.

Janine's Golbat followed up by hitting Jake's Golbat with Wing Attack.

Unfortunately, rather than attack Janine's Golbat, Jake's Golbat attacked himself instead.

"Come on!" exclaimed Jake.

Janine's Golbat hit Jake's Golbat with Wing Attack again, and this time, Golbat was too infatuated with the Gym Leader's Pokemon to fight back.

This allowed Janine's Golbat to make Jake's Golbat faint easily. The latter could not believe how easily his bat Pokemon had lost.

"Wow..." murmured Ned.

Jake sighed. Neither of his female Pokemon were super effective against flying-types...so it looked as if he was at a disadvantage.

Shrugging, he decided to use his starter. He always seemed to be able to get him through most Pokemon battles...why would this one be an exception?

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

Fortunately for Grimer, he didn't seem particularly interested in Golbat...since he wasn't a flying type himself.

"Hit her with Sludge." ordered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Grimer did so...unfortunately, it wasn't very effective.

Golbat hit Grimer with Confuse Ray in retaliation...but thankfully he anticipated it and started shaking his head back and forth to snap himself out of it...which seemed to do the trick.

"Hit her with Sludge...again..." said Jake.

Fortunately, Grimer got a critical hit this time...and Golbat was starting to feel rather tired. Maybe her battle with Golbat with her earlier had made her lose energy? She did seem to put a lot in the assault...even if she wasn't actually hit.

This time, Golbat tried to use Attract...but unfortunately, Grimer was not into bat Pokemon, as he did not have wings for arms.

Grimer hit Janine's Golbat with Sludge one last time, and she fainted.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Janine as she recalled her Golbat.

Immediately, she handed Jake a Soul Badge.

"Thank you." spoke the boy as he put his badge into the gem case.

Lucy entered the gym shortly afterwards. By the looks of it, she had been looking for Jake.

"Hi, Lucy." said Jake.

"There you are! I was starting to get worried!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...I guess we did get separated for a while, huh?" noted Jake.

"Yeah...there were bikers all over the place...those Tough Tentacools sure were a menace to Fuschia City..." spoke Lucy.

"Yeah...I think they'll leave us alone for now...hopefully, anyway." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"I would imagine so." nodded the eleven-year-old.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she got the feeling that the Tough Tentacools were going to be rather persistant.

At that very moment, Chris entered the gym as well, along with Koga. Janine let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, she was starting to get worried about her father.

"Did you defeat the Gym Leader?" asked Chris.

"Sort of...she gave me the Soul Badge for helping take care of some bikers...I sure had my hands full trying to defeat them all..." noted Ned.

"Did anything happen while you were gone? I heard that a biker gang by the name of the Tough Tentacools had been causing trouble around Fuschia lately...of course, I also heard that Team Rocket has been active around Saffron City too..." asked Koga.

"Yeah...the leader of the bikers wanted to take all our Soul Badges..." said Janine.

"He did? Did he hurt you?" asked Koga curiously.

"No, they did not, fortunately...these two gentlemen here were able to give me a hand." explained the kunoichi.

Immediately, Koga and Janine gave each other a hug.

"Aww...how sweet." thought Chris.

After Koga and Janine finished showing their affection for each other, our heroes decided it was time to go get their sixth gym badge.

Fortunately, Saffron City wasn't far from Fuschia City...in fact, they just had to go see the guard near Celadon City.

"Well, that's rather fortunate, wouldn't you think?" noted Jake.

Lucy nodded her head.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy.

However, Jake heard that he was very grumpy and wasn't going to be helpful unless they gave him a drink.

Fortunately, he seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, and he decided to let him through.

"Please pass on through. I'm not going to stop you. Really, I promise!" exclaimed the guard.

"Thank you very much." said Jake.

"It's a good thing he isn't thirsty anymore." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately for the former Team Rocket Grunt, he realized that he had a problem once he went to challenge the Gym Leader.

A Team Rocket Grunt was standing right in front of the Pokemon Gym.

Jake sighed. It appeared that he wouldn't be able to waltz in and battle the Gym Leader right away.

"Let me through! I need to battle the Gym Leader!" exclaimed the preteen boy.

"Heck no! I never listen to children! And psychics make my head hurt! Go look for some other Pokemon Gym!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake sighed. It looked as if he was going to have to find a way to get him to leave. But...just why was he here?

Curious, he noticed that there seemed to be a Team Rocket Grunt standing near the Silph Co. entrance...

...and he realized that he had a problem in his hands.

Apparently, Team Rocket was invading Silph Co...where all the Pokemon products seemed to originate. What could they be up to in there?

He got the feeling that Giovanni had entered the building himself...and that he was going to have to face him again.

"Oh dear..." thought the boy. Personally he thought he was rather lucky to defeat his Pokemon boss once...would he be able to do again?

Somehow, he got the feeling that he was now stronger than before, and that he added new Pokemon to his team.

"I don't think it's going to be so easy this time..." thought Jake.

Curious, he noticed that there was a Fighting Dojo nearby. Apparently none of the Team Rocket Grunts were in the mood to block the building.

He began to wonder why.

_At Saffron City were two Team Rocket Grunts with way too much time at their hands. Giovanni had ordered them to remain in the city while Giovanni made an offer that the president of Silph Co. could never refuse in a million years._

_Suffice to say, they wanted to do something fun._

_"I'm bored. What do you want to do?" asked one of the Team Rocket Grunts._

_Curiously enough, one of the Team Rocket Grunts was tall while the other was short._

_"I don't know. Stand in front of random buildings and watch the chaos unfold? I heard that Pokemon trainers hate it when you do that." explained the short Team Rocket Grunt._

_"Sounds like a plan!" exclaimed the tall Team Rocket Grunt._

_Immediately, the tall Team Rocket Grunt stood in front of the Saffron Gym while the other stood in front of the fighting Gym._

_This did not make the Pokemon trainers that were hoping to get their sixth gym badges happy at all._

_"Nooo!" bellowed a nearby youngster._

_"You monster!" exclaimed a nearby lass._

_"How could you do such a thing?!" yelled a sailor._

_"Why do you have to be so cruel?!" exclaimed a hiker._

_Suffice to say, the Pokemon trainers were all shocked that the Grunt would do such a terrible thing._

_"Mwahahaha!" laughed the tall Team Rocket Grunt. This was simply too much fun. Maybe if Giovanni ever decided to visit another city with a Pokemon Gym, he could stand in front of the gym entrance there too._

_Unfortunately for the short Team Rocket Grunt, unlike the psychics inside the gym (who were usually in a trance), the black belts were not happy that a Team Rocket Grunt was blocking their way out of the dojo._

_Immediately, one of the black belts kicked the Team Rocket Grunt quite a distance._

_"Hiya!" bellowed the black belt._

_"Aah!" screamed the unfortunate Team Rocket Grunt as he was sent flying and crashed into the ground._

_"Are you OK?" asked the tall Team Rocket Grunt._

_"I'm taking my chances in front of the Silph Co. building!" exclaimed the short Team Rocket Grunt as he went to block that said building._

By the looks of it, it used to be an official Pokemon Gym, but Psychics came by and defeated all the fighting specialists.

"Right...psychic Pokemon are effective against fighting types..." noted Jake.

Rather than pack their bags and go set up a Pokemon Gym in some other city, the black belts instead decided to set up a fighting dojo to help Pokemon trainers prepare themselves to battle against Sabrina.

Strangely enough, they had considered heading to another land to set up their Pokemon Gym, but they decided not to do when they heard that there was a flying-type Gym Leader there.

"Why can't there be more than one Pokemon Gym in one city?" questioned Lucy.

"They didn't want things to be too easy for Pokemon trainers, I guess." answered Jake.

"I sure hope that they can restore themselves to their former glory someday." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"It's kind of a shame, isn't it?" nodded Jake.

Personally he thought that psychic Pokemon were a bit overpowered...if only there was a Pokemon out there somewhere that was immune to psychic attacks and was super effective against them in return...

But apparently a Pokemon like that did not exist...right? They at least didn't seem to exist in Kanto.

Then again, there were a lot of Pokemon out there that hadn't been discovered yet. For all he knew, there could be thousands of different Pokemon in the world.

He personally wondered if he would truly be able to catch them all.

Shrugging, he decided to enter the former Pokemon Gym to see if any one of the Black Belts wanted to battle him.

Sure enough, there was a Pokemon trainer that wanted to battle him inside the gym. In this case, it was the Karate King Kiyo, who happened to be a former Gym Leader until he was forced into retirement by Sabrina.

However, as it turned out, since it was an unofficial gym (and therefore they wouldn't be handing out Gym Badges), they had decided to set up a challenge with a few rule restrictions.

One of these rules was that he would use a Fighting-type of his own to battle the leader of the black belts. He had to battle either his Hitmonlee or his Hitmonchan.

Also, he would have to face that particular Pokemon one-on-one. He couldn't simply send out six different Pokemon to Growlithepile the unfortunate fighting Pokemon...since that would naturally make things too easy.

If he won, he would get to choose the Pokemon that he managed to defeat. Apparently the fighting master was rather generous.

Either that, or he simply had a large amount of those particular Pokemon. He always seemed to have many challengers, so surely they had to come from somewhere, right?

For a moment, he considered using Machoke, but then he remembered his Mankey, and how he had not used him for a while.

Shrugging, he decided it was time for Mankey to shine, and he went to Professor Oak's PC to check on him.

Sure enough, there was Mankey, happily munching on a banana. There was Raticate, helping himself to some cheese, and his Gloom, who was relaxing in a garden.

"Hey there, Mankey!" exclaimed Jake.

"Mankey?" inquired the monkey Pokemon.

"Are you ready to battle again?" asked the boy.

"Mankey!" exclaimed the fighting Pokemon, who began to pound his chest.

"I'll take that a yes." said Jake.

Immediately, Jake withdrew Mankey from Professor Oak's PC. The monkey Pokemon was rather excited.

"Easy there, buddy." said Jake.

In return, he deposited Machoke, since he didn't feel that he needed another fighting-type on his team at the moment.

He entered the Fighting Dojo, ready to challenge the fighting master.

"Are you ready? Which Pokemon do you wish to face?" asked the fighting-type specialist.

"Your Hitmonchan, I guess." said Jake.

Immediately, the fighting master threw a Pokeball containing his Hitmonchan.

"Hitmonchan!" exclaimed the fighting Pokemon.

Lucy scanned Hitmonchan with her Pokedex.

"Hitmonchan, the Punching Pokemon. It can punch through a concrete wall like a drill, and its strikes are lightning-quick." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"He sure seems awfully strong...and awfully quick..." noted Lucy.

"Go, Mankey!" shouted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Mankey!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

Immediately, Mankey began to flex his muscles.

"Why is he suddenly so full of himself?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Maybe spending so much time around Pokemon has gone to his head." noted Jake, recalling how long he had left him in Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Hitmonchan sprinted towards Mankey and started trying to punch him. Fortunately, Mankey was very agile and was able to dodge the strikes.

"Mankey!" cheered the monkey Pokemon.

"Hitmonchan..." murmured the fighting Pokemon sadly. Why couldn't he strike Mankey?

In retaliation, Jake ordered Mankey to toss Hitmonchan into the sky.

Mankey nodded, and Hitmonchan ended up taking a nasty fall.

"Funny, I don't ever really recall him being that strong..." noted Lucy.

"Did he do some training in Professor Oak's Lab?" questioned Jake. He would imagine that the other Fighting Pokemon there would want to challenge him to a duel.

However, he wasn't down for the count yet. Hitmonchan began to help himself to his feet, though by the looks of it Mankey had knocked the breath out of him with that technique.

Suddenly, Hitmonchan's hand became surrounded with fire.

"Huh?" asked Jake curiously.

"Fire Punch!" ordered the fighting master.

The fighting master's Hitmonchan hit Jake's Mankey with Fire Punch, knocking him off his feet.

"Are you alright?" asked Jake curiously.

Fortunately, Mankey wasn't hurt too much by this attack. He immediately helped himself to his feet, and he wasn't burned by the fire.

However, it made him feel angry.

Very angry.

In fact, Mankey was furious.

Mankey wanted revenge.

"Um, Jake, I think your Mankey is having a temper tantrum..." explained Lucy.

"Is he?" asked Jake curiously.

In retaliation for being punched in the face, the monkey Pokemon started to evolve.

"Congratulations, Mankey!" exclaimed Jake.

When he had finished evolving, Mankey was now a Primeape.

"Primeape!" bellowed Jake's Primeape.

"Great job!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Jake scanned Primeape with his Pokedex.

"Primeape, the Pig Monkey Pokemon. It is always furious, and is tenacious to boot. It only stops being angry when nobody else is nearby." explained the Pokedex.

"Wow...that's one angry Pokemon..." noted the preteen.

Unfortunately, it turned out evolution had a side-effect.

Suddenly, Primeape began to attack Hitmonchan on his own without following Jake's orders.

"Um..." murmured Jake.

"Primeape Primeape Primeape!" bellowed the ape Pokemon.

"Primeape's starting to scare me..." said Lucy.

"Um, Primeape...I think you should..."

Unfortunately, it appeared that Primeape had gone berserk and wasn't going to listen to directions anymore. He ignored Jake and kept on attacking the Hitmonchan.

Curious, Jake recalled how Ash's Charmeleon didn't seem interested in obeying him during their Pokemon battle. Ash mentioned that he had started disobeying him once he evolved.

Could it be an explanation to what was happening now? By the looks of it, evolution could have that sort of effect on a Pokemon.

"Well, this doesn't bode well for the future." noted Jake. Not following directions tended to have consequences later. Primeape could only blindly rush at so many opponents before they started to gain the upper hand against him.

"Use Elec Punch!" ordered Kiyo.

Immediately, Hitmonchan's hand was surrounded with electricity, and he reached forward to punch Primeape.

Unfortuantely, the ape Pokemon ducked underneath it, and kicked Hitmonchan to the ground in retaliation.

Now feeling somewhat woozy, the punching expert had trouble helping himself to his feet.

"Hang in there! Use Ice Punch!" ordered Kiyo.

Now surrounding his hand with ice, Hitmonchan walked over to Primeape, but once again Primeape dodged this attack.

Apparently, evolution had made the battle too easy for the pig monkey Pokemon. He was feeling very strong.

Fortunately for Jake, Primeape managed to defeat Hitmonchan without following his Pokemon trainer's directions.

However, he demanded a banana for his efforts, even though he had not followed his trainer's directions and had decided to use his own strategy...which didn't involve any sort of defensive manuevers that could have benefitted him in the fight.

"I don't have a banana." explained the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, Primeape began to pout.

"I'll see what I can find." explained Jake as he recalled his Primeape back into his Pokeball.

As a reward for defeating Hitmonchan, the karate master allowed Jake to keep him as one of his Pokemon.

"Thank you." said Jake.

Since his Pokemon party was always full these days, Hitmonchan was immediately sent to Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Thankfully, he had a punching bag he could use if he wanted to punch something...which he usually did, though thankfully he wouldn't strike an innocent human being. His former Pokemon trainer had successfully taught him restraint and not to solve his problems peacefully.

However, realizing that Primeape wasn't interested in obeying his commands anymore, he decided to deposit him into Professor Oak's PC and swap him for Hitmonchan instead. This caused him to pout and fuss.

On the plus side, Professor Oak was willing to give him a banana.

"Primeape..." murmured the ape Pokemon. At least it was better than nothing.

"Oh dear...I guess he wants to participate in more Pokemon battles..." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

"Oh dear...Primeape doesn't want to listen to you anymore, does he?" questioned Lucy as they left the fighting dojo.

"Doesn't look that way." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

At that very moment, Chris decided to enter the fighting dojo as well.

"Are you here for the challenge?" asked Kiyo curiously.

"Yes, I am." explained Chris.

"Good. You will need a fighting-type..." explained the fighting-type master.

At that moment, she began to laugh nervously.

"Is something the problem?" asked Kiyo curiously.

"I don't think I have a fighting type..." spoke Chris.

In response, he began to think of a solution to this problem.

"Maybe she could just use her strongest Pokemon? I know what mine is." noted Ned.

Sure enough, Ned's Eevee came out of his Pokeball.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee.

"There might be a problem with that..." spoke Chris.

"How come?" asked the Karate King.

"You see...my strongest Pokemon...happens to be a Jigglypuff." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh." realized Kiyo.

"Yeah...something tells me that this challenge is off to a bad start..." noted Chris.

"If you want we could go look for a fighting Pokemon...there might be some in the nearby area..." suggested Ned.

"Well, in the name of fairness...I suppose I could make my Hitmonlee go easy on you..." replied the Karate King.

"The latter sounds good." said Chris.

"Go, Hitmonlee!" bellowed Kiyo.

"Hitmonlee!" exclaimed the kicking Pokemon.

Ned scanned Hitmonlee with his Pokedex.

"Hitmonlee, the Kicking Pokemon. When in a hurry, its legs lengthen considerably. The sole of its foot can turn hard as a diamond." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"It sure is good at kicking his opponent, isn't he?" questioned Ned.

For some strange reason, all Hitmonchans and Hitmonlees were male. Some Pokemon were simply one-gender only, it seemed. Personally this made Ned wonder how those particular Pokemon managed to breed in the wild.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" shouted Chris's Jigglypuff.

Immediately, she realized that she was facing a fighting-type, and she began to feel rather nervous.

"Jiggly..." murmured the balloon Pokemon.

"Come on, you can do this! Sing!" ordered Chris.

Jigglypuff began to Sing...but unfortunately, there was a problem...

Hitmonlee did not have any visible ears.

"Jiggly..." murmured Jigglypuff. It appeared that Hitmonlee wasn't going to hear any of her music notes considering how small its ears were by the looks of it.

Unfortunately, the kicking Pokemon did not fall asleep, and it looked like Jigglypuff was in for a world of hurt.

"Hi Jump Kick!" commanded Kiyo.

Immediately, Hitmonlee kicked Jigglypuff, causing her to deflate and start moving across the room.

She landed on the floor in a heap and began to reinflate herself.

"What a hit..." thought Ned.

"Are you OK?" inquired Chris.

"Jiggly..." murmured Chris's Jigglypuff. That Hi Jump Kick packed a wallop...and to make matters worse she was pretty sure Hitmonlee had gotten a critical hit.

"I'll take that as a no." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately after a blow like that, Jigglypuff was feeling rather...dizzy.

Taking his chances, Kiyo had Hitmonlee use High Jump Kick once again...

...but this time, Jigglypuff fell over, and he ended up missing.

"Jiggly?" asked Jigglypuff. For some strange reason, she felt that she had just dodged a Hyper Beam. But she wasn't quite sure why.

Unfortunately for Hitmonlee, he kept on going, and crashed into the wall, really hard.

"Hitmonlee..." murmured the kicking Pokemon.

"OK..." murmured Chris.

"Wow..." thought Ned.

"Jigglypuff?" asked Chris's Jigglypuff. Did she just do that? She was starting to wonder if she did not realize her own strength.

Then again, she always seemed to win most of her fights, so surely she knew at some level that she was a very strong Pokemon, right?

This gave Jigglypuff the opportunity to slap Hitmonlee on the face...which she did with considerate difficulty considering that she was still exhausted from that blow she had taken earlier.

And to think Hitmonlee was going easy, too. That fighting Pokemon must be really strong.

Nonetheless, this was enough to make the kicking Pokemon faint, and Chris scored a victory.

"Congratulations. Here is your Hitmonlee." said Karate Master Kiyo.

"That was close." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she recalled her Jigglypuff.

As a reward, Karate Master Kiyo let her have his Hitmonlee.

"Try to watch where you're going next time." said Chris as she caught Hitmonlee with one of her Pokeballs.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to go look for some more fighting Pokemon..." said the karate master as he left the dojo.

Immediately, the other black belts in the dojo said farewell to Kiyo. Apparently, this wasn't the first time this had happened, as they didn't seem very surprised that he was leaving.

Naturally, Hitmonlee was sent to Professor Oak's PC.

Once again, Chris had decide whether she was going to take her new Pokemon with her or not.

"Let me think..." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Curious, Chris decided to send out her current Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff?" asked the female Pokemon curiously.

"As usual, no." said Chris.

"Nidoking?" asked Chris's Nidoking curiously.

"You evolved your Nidorino? Funny, I evolved my Nidorina too to protect me from those bikers..." noted Ned.

"Good for you. Anyways, I think I'll keep you around." said the female Pokemon trainer.

"Onix?" asked the rock snake Pokemon curiously.

"Eh, you might want another day in the limelight..." noted Chris.

"Haunter?" asked the ghost Pokemon curiously.

"I haven't had you for too long...though admittedly I was there when you evolved." said the female Pokemon trainer.

"Shellder?" questioned the bivalve Pokemon.

"I don't think I have a Water Stone yet, unfortunately." noted Chris.

"Shellder..." said the water Pokemon sadly.

"Tauros?" asked the bull Pokemon curiously.

"To be honest, I've been rather wary of your species until I met you...it's good to see that not all Tauros are aggressive." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Now that Tauros thought of it, the other Pokemon in the Safari Zone did seem a bit frightened of him...though admittedly he never went out of his way to antagonize them.

After some deliberation, Chris decided to send Shellder to Professor Oak's Lab and switch him out with Hitmonlee.

"I'll let you know if I ever get a Water Stone, OK?" asked Chris.

"Shellder!" cheered the bivalve Pokemon.

"Are you ready to challenge the Gym Leader?" asked Ned curiously.

"There might be a problem with that..." said the black belt.

"Huh?" inquired Chris.

"Team Rocket's preventing people from entering the gym...just for personal pleasure." explained Kiyo.

Chris facepalmed.

"Fine...I guess we're going to have to straighten them out..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Are you sure? There do seem to be a lot of them..." spoke Ned.

"You want to battle the Gym Leader, don't you? We won't be able to get in the Pokemon League if we can't get rid of that Team Rocket Grunt standing in front of the entrance." inquired Chris.

"Right...of course. Let's go make him leave town." nodded the boy.

Fortunately for the pair, the short Pokemon trainer had fallen asleep, because he was lazy.

Chris and Ned (reluctantly) entered the building.

They were quickly followed by Lucy and Jake...who realized what had to be done.

"Good luck in there, Clefairy...I wouldn't want any of the Team Rocket Grunts to take you away..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She got the feeling that stopping Team Rocket wasn't going to be easy. Their leader had accompanied them inside Silph Co. and was personally ensuring the success of his operation, so they would inevitably have to face him in a Pokemon battle.

"I can't let Team Rocket get away with this..." thought the boy as he entered Silph Co.

_Jake and Chris have new Pokemon, but unfortunately Team Rocket is up to no good inside Silph Co. Will they be able to stop them?_

_If they want to do that...they're going to have to face more than just Team Rocket...can you guess who else our heroes are also going to be encountering in Silph Co?_

_I'll give you a hint...they're all Pokemon trainers that our heroes have encountered before...and they all want revenge on our protagonists...can you guess whose returning?_


	39. Chapter 39: The Master Ball

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to enter Silph Co. and are going to try to get Team Rocket to leave...of course, that isn't going to be easy...and unfortunately they're going to have to deal with more than just Team Rocket Grunts..._

R.I.P My Stepgrandfather Al 1937-2014

**Chapter 39: The Master Ball**

No sooner had our heroes entered Silph Co. did they notice the terrified receptionist. Unsurprisingly, she was scared out of her wits.

"This is terrible! Team Rocket is all over the place! Their leader said that he was searching for a Pokeball..." said the receptionist.

"He was?" asked Jake.

"Yeah...he said that he was looking for a Pokeball that would allow him to capture any Pokemon with fail...he couldn't have been referring to the Master Ball we made last week, was he?" asked the woman.

"The Master Ball?" inquired Lucy.

"Yeah...we designed a Poke Ball that could catch any Pokemon without fail..." spoke the receptionist.

"I suppose it wouldn't do anyone favors if Giovanni got his hands on it, would it?" inquired Ned.

The receptionist shook her head. Kanto was going to descend into chaos if he managed to catch a powerful Pokemon with it. What if he got his hands on a legendary Pokemon?

"Well then, I guess we're just going to have to stop them..." spoke Chris.

Unfortunately, as our heroes discovered, there were two Team Rocket Grunts blocking the elevator.

Specifically, there were their old "friends", Jessie and James. How many times were they going to run into them?

It appeared that they were going to have to keep on facing them in Pokemon battles...until the end of time.

At least they would provide their Pokemon with some simple experience.

"Not these two again..." murmured Chris.

"Our boss is here for the Master Ball!" exclaimed Jessie.

"It will make him the best Pokemon trainer of all!" bellowed James.

"Team Rocket's finally going to conquer the nation!" shouted the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Prepare for complete and utter devastation!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Team Rocket's blasting off at the speed of light!" bellowed Jessie.

"I suggest you surrender now, you're not going to be able to put up a fight!" exclaimed James.

"Meowth! That's right!" bellowed Meowth.

Chris began to laugh.

"Haven't you realized that you two losers can't defeat us? I mean seriously..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Um, Chris, I don't think they need to do that this time..." explained Ned.

"What?" asked the tomboy curiously.

"If Giovanni manages to get away with the Master Ball, we're finished...they just need to stall us for time until their boss manages to find it..." spoke the male Pokemon trainer.

"Oh...well, I'm pretty sure that task is still beyond them." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well, we don't have time to waste." noted Jake.

"Go, Lickitung!" exclaimed Jessie.

"Go, Victreebel!" bellowed James.

"Oh dear...it looks like they've been capturing more Pokemon..." noted Lucy.

"Yeah...not like that's going to do them any good..." answered Chris.

Lucy scanned Lickitung with her Pokedex.

"Lickitung, the Tongue Pokemon. Its tongue can be extended like a chameleon's. It leaves a tingling sensation when it licks enemies." read Lucy's Pokedex.

"Hey there!" exclaimed a voice.

Curious, our four heroes looked around, and discovered that Ash Ketchum was in there.

"It's the twerp!" bellowed Jessie.

"Do you need a hand?" asked the boy.

Apparently, he had also realized what Team Rocket had been up to inside Silph Co.

"Well, we're worried that these two Team Rocket Grunts are going to slow us down..." explained Ned.

"We don't want Giovanni to make a getaway..." explained Lucy.

"Oh. Well, alright then! Pikachu, I choose you!" bellowed Ash.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed Pikachu as he climbed off of Ash.

"You sure you can take them on by yourself?" asked Jake.

"I don't need to take them down, I just need to stall them." explained the boy.

"Good luck out there!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, the four heroes entered the elevator so that they could pursuit Giovanni.

However, they had a problem...there were many different buttons to press.

"Where do we go?" asked Lucy.

Curious, Jake noticed that there were directions saying where exactly they should head to get to the president's office.

"Oh...I must have missed that." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well, we were admittedly in a bit of a hurry." acknowledged Ned.

Immediately, our heroes pressed to the button to get to the president's office...which oddly enough was located all the way at the top floor.

Unfortunately, it appeared that it wasn't going to be that simple. Giovanni had locked the door using a card key, so there was a metal gate in front of it.

"We're going to need to open that gate if we want to reach Giovanni..." noted Ned.

"Looking for something?" asked Butch and Cassidy curiously.

Curious, our heroes looked around, and discovered who was in possession of the card key.

"Give that to us!" exclaimed Jake.

"You're going to have to chase us first!" bellowed the two Team Rocket Grunts.

Immediately, Butch and Cassidy took one of the teleporters.

Suffice to say, our heroes ended up losing precious time as they pursued the two across Silph Co.

Unfortunately, the duo would simply not hold still. They ran pretty quickly, and our heroes were gasping for breath every time they tried to catch them.

Also, using the teleporters so frequently were starting to make them dizzy.

Why couldn't Butch and Cassidy hold still? Or challenge them to a Pokemon battle? That would make things a lot easier...

...unfortunately, it appeared that the duo knew that.

"How long are we going to have to chase them?" asked Ned, who was panting for breath.

"Come on! We can't let Giovanni get away!" bellowed Chris.

Eventually, Butch and Cassidy decided to taunt them.

"Give it up! You'll never get that key card!" bellowed Butch.

"You're not going to stop our boss!" exclaimed Cassidy.

However, Clefairy wasn't going to have any of that.

Suddenly, she ran towards Cassidy and took the key card from her hands.

"What the-hey!" exclaimed the female Team Rocket Grunt.

Lucy's Clefairy then handed the key card to Lucy.

"Thank you very much." explained Lucy.

"Aren't those two going to chase us?" asked Ned curiously.

"You're right...I guess we're going to leave one of our own behind again..." noted Chris.

Shrugging, Jake decided to volunteer for this task.

"You go on ahead. I'll hold them off!" exclaimed Jake.

"Be careful out there!" warned Lucy.

"Clefairy!" agreed Lucy's Clefairy.

"I will, Lucy. I will." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, Lucy, Chris, and Ned entered one of the teleporters to find their way back to Giovanni.

Unfortunately, the teleporter maze was rather...confusing. They simply couldn't remember how to get back to Giovanni.

Eventually, they came across what appeared to be a normal room...other than the fact that it was pitch-black. Somebody turned off the lights.

"Hmm, this room's empty...no Team Rocket Grunts in sight." noted Ned.

"Where did everyone go?" asked Lucy.

Curious, Chris noticed that there appeared to be a light switch. She pressed it on...

...and Lucy and Ned gasped in shock.

Standing in the room were the Magikarp Salesman, Jerry, and Johnny.

"Is this some kind of teamup?" asked Chris.

"Pretty much. Giovanni paid us all to deal with some meddling brats...said that he wanted us to keep you busy." explained Johnny.

"You losers are going down! My Pokemon are the best ever!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Really? I heard that you keep losing Pokemon battles..." questioned Johnny.

Jerry stamped his foot in the ground in frustration.

"Would any of you be interested in buying a Pokemon from me...after I defeat you in a Pokemon battle?" asked the Magikarp Salesman.

"I don't have time for this." explained Chris, trying to leave the room.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the teleporter was in some sort of cooldown. Apparently, too many Pokemon trainers using the same teleporter at once had that sort of effect.

Chris sighed. It looked like she was going to have to face the three Pokemon trainers.

"Which Pokemon trainers do we face? There's three of us and there's three of them." noted Ned.

"Don't you have a grudge against the Magikarp Salesman?" asked Chris.

"Oh, right. I guess I'll battle him then..." explained Ned.

"I'll take care of Jerry. I heard that he's been abusing Pokemon for ages." noted Lucy.

"You knew his name?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Well yeah, I met him once at the S.S. Anne...though admittedly it was about a month ago." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Oh, right...I guess that just leaves me with the biker gang leader...where are your biker friends, anyway?" asked Chris.

"I was going to bring them with me...but unfortunately the teleporters can't support my little buddies...disappointing..." murmured Johnny.

"Well, at least you won't be able to gang on up this time..." noted Ned.

"I don't need my bikers this time! I have them!" exclaimed Johnny, pointing to Jerry and the Magikarp Salesman.

"I wish I were part of a biker gang..." murmured Jerry.

"Maybe when you're older, kid." noted Johnny.

Jerry frowned.

"Go, Kingler!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

The Magikarp Salesman immediately sent out his Kingler. Apparently, his Krabby had evolved.

"Kingler!" bellowed the crab Pokemon.

Ned scanned Kingler with his Pokedex.

"Kingler, the Pincer Pokemon. Its large pincer has over ten thousand horsepower, but its large size makes it difficult to aim." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"That's one huge claw..." noted Ned.

Fortunately for Ned, he happened to have an ideal Pokemon to dealing with the Magikarp Salesman...

In his case, his Pikachu.

"Go, Pikachu!" bellowed Ned.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Ned's Pikachu.

The Magikarp Salesman sighed. He really needed a ground or a fire type.

"Use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Pikachu immediately hit Kingler with Thunderbolt...

...but unfortunately, he shielded himself with his pincer.

"Kingler!" bellowed the crab Pokemon.

The Magikarp Salesman smiled. Perhaps he had an opportunity to win this after all. If he could just manage to take out Pikachu...

"I guess things aren't going to be so simple..." noted Ned.

As for Jerry, he decided to send out his Dodrio.

"You know, fighting a little girl isn't really worth my time." noted Jerry.

"Then why are you fighting me?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Because your little friends are already occupied!" exclaimed the youngster.

"Oh yeah..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

In retaliation, Lucy decided to send out Pidgeotto. Surely she would be able to defeat that bird, right?

"Go, Pidgeotto!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

As she did so, Lucy scanned the Dodrio with her Pokedex.

"Dodrio, the Triple Bird Pokemon. While two of its heads are sleeping, one of its heads keep itself awake." explained the Pokedex.

"I'm not sure if putting it to sleep will work then..." noted Lucy.

Unfortunately for Lucy, Jerry's Dodrio wasted no time in attacking. Apparently, he was rather vicious like his Pokemon trainer.

"Pidgeotto!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"Wing Attack!" shouted Lucy.

Pidgeotto hit Dodrio with Wing Attack...but unfortunately this did not hurt him very much.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured the flying Pokemon. It looked like she was in for a world of hurt.

Immediately, Dodrio hit Pidgeotto with Tri Attack, which eventually resulted in her being frozen solid.

"Oh no..." murmured Lucy. How was Pidgeotto going to thaw herself out? Unless she managed to do so, she was going to be a sitting Psyduck.

Unsurprisingly, Jerry was taking full advantage of Pidgeotto's situation.

"Yeah! Hit her with everything you've got!" squealed the boy.

Jerry's Dodrio nodded, and started attacking Pidgeotto furiously. She got hit a whopping five times.

"Pidgeotto..." murmured Lucy.

"Clefairy..." spoke Lucy's Clefairy. Was Pidgeotto already down for the count?

Johnny sent out his Pinsir to defeat Chris.

"My Pinsir's going to crush your Pokemon!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Not if I send out a flying-type. Go, Fearow!" bellowed Chris.

"Fearow!" exclaimed the drill Pokemon.

Immediately, Pinsir began to feel rather nervous, but Johnny snapped him out of it. So what if he had a type disadvantage?

"C'mon! You can just hit him with your Guillotine! You know how well that works!" exclaimed Johnny.

Pinsir nodded, and began to snap his pincers back and forth.

"What are you excited about?" asked Chris.

Suddenly, Pinsir began to charge towards Fearow. The female Pokemon trainer realized what he was up to.

"Look out!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Fortunately, Pinsir's pincers missed Fearow's neck, but just barely.

However, Pinsir ended up using his pincers on Fearow's wing instead, causing him to collapse on the ground in a heap.

"Oh dear..." murmured Chris.

"Fearow..." said Chris's Fearow.

"Ha! I never miss!" bellowed Johnny.

"Well, I don't ever recall missing either. Peck him!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Chris's Fearow immediately started using his beak to attack Pinsir...but unfortunately, he was feeling exhausted and couldn't use the technique effectively.

Johnny began to laugh.

"This is too easy!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Yeah, well, this fight is only getting started." noted Chris.

In retaliation for nearly being hit by Thunderbolt, Kingler used Crabhammer on Pikachu.

"Pika pi!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon. Those pincers really packed a whallop.

"Hang in there, Pikachu!" exclaimed Ned.

"You know, it's funny, the other day I happened to scam a gullible Pokemon trainer out of a Thunderstone..." noted the Magikarp Salesman.

"Really?" asked the boy.

Curious, Pikachu ran towards the Magikarp Salesman and decided to take the Thunderstone for himself.

"Hey!" exclaimed the salesman.

Immediately, Pikachu began to evolve.

"I guess one of your thefts backfired then." noted Ned.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the freshly evolved Pokemon.

"Oh man..." murmured the salesman.

This time, Kingler could not simply use his larger pincer to defend himself from Raichu's electric attacks. In fact, he fainted almost immediately.

"You may have defeated my Kingler, but I've still got five Pokemon left!" exclaimed the salesman as he recalled his Kingler.

"You sure like to fish..." noted Ned.

"Go, Seadra!" bellowed the fisherman.

"Seadra!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Ned scanned Seadra with his Pokedex.

"Seadra, the Dragon Pokemon. Touching the fins of his back will cause numbness, and it is capable of swimming backwards." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"I guess this is what Horsea looks like when it evolves..." noted the boy.

Meanwhile, things were looking bleak for Lucy's Pidgeotto.

"Pidge...otto..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

"Ha! Time to finish you!" exclaimed Jerry.

However, at that very moment, Pidgeotto began to glow.

"Huh?" asked Jerry.

"Funny, this always seems to happen whenever my Pokemon is in dire straits during a Pokemon battle..." noted Lucy.

"Why can't it even happen to me!" pouted the youngster.

"Well, maybe if you treated your Pokemon better, they would actually want to win Pokemon battles for you." questioned Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeotto thawed out of the ice...and was now a Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed Lucy's Pidgeot.

"Funny, you look just like your mother..." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she scanned Pidgeot with her Pokedex.

"Pidgeot, the Bird Pokemon. It can fly at Mach 2 Speed, and its talons are wicked weapons." explained the Pokedex.

"Wow, you've really gotten fast...and strong, too!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeot began to cheer.

"Use Tri Attack again!" commanded Jerry.

Unfortunately for Jerry, it appeared that Pidgeot had managed to turn the tables on Dodrio due to her evolution. She dodged Tri Attack effortless, and Lucy had her follow up with Wing Attack.

"Dodrio!" bellowed the bird Pokemon with three heads.

"Did you learn that upon evolution?" asked Lucy curiously. "To be honest, I don't really remember ordering you to do that before..."

Pidgeot shrugged. Apparently, she learned that technique a bit faster than most Pidgeots...

At that very moment, Dodrio fainted. Apparently, Jerry instructing Dodrio to hit Pidgeot with everything he had earlier had taken its toll.

"Gah! This is so unfair!" exclaimed Jerry as he recalled his Dodrio.

"What's so unfair about it?" asked Lucy.

Scowling, Jerry decided to send out a Pokemon that he figured would be able to defeat Pidgeot.

"Go, Slowbro!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Slowbro!" bellowed the water Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

Lucy scanned Slowbro with her Pokedex.

"Slowbro, the Hermit Crab Pokemon. It lives lazily by the sea. If the Shellder on its tail comes off, it will become a Slowpoke again." explained the Pokedex.

"Don't you dare let go of that tail!" bellowed Jerry at the Shellder that had bitten Slowbro's tail.

"Shellder..." murmured the Shellder sinking his teeth into Slowbro's tail.

Once again, Lucy instructed Pidgeot to use Wing Attack.

"Slowbro!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

By the looks of it, Pidgeot had gotten a critical hit...considering how fast Lucy's bird Pokemon was, that wasn't too surprising.

However, Slowbro had a nasty trick up his sleeve.

"Use Ice Beam!" ordered Jerry.

Slowbro immediately hit Pidgeot with Ice Beam, and she fainted instantly.

"Pidgeot..." murmured Lucy's unfortunate bird Pokemon.

"First your beating from Dodrio, and now this..." noted the female Pokemon trainer as she recalled her Pidgeot.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She was starting to feel sorry for the poor Pokemon. At least she managed to evolve before she fainted again, right?

In retaliation, Lucy decided to send out her Ivysaur.

"Go, Ivysaur!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Ivysaur!" exclaimed the dinosaur Pokemon.

_Meanwhile..._

Not wanting Pikachu to have to face Lickitung and Victreebel alone, Ash Ketchum decided to send out another Pokemon to back him up.

"Go, Primeape!" bellowed Ash.

Fortunately, Primeape had decided to take a break from training at the Fighting Dojo so that he could give his Pokemon master a hand.

"Primeape!" exclaimed Ash's Primeape.

By the looks of it, he had gotten quite strong.

"It looks like training's worked out for you!" exclaimed Ash.

"Primeape!" bellowed the ape Pokemon.

Unfortunately, neither Pikachu's electric attacks or Primeape's fighting attacks would be very effective against James' Victreebel, due to her dual-type coverage.

"Hmm...normally I would sent out Charmeleon...but he hasn't been listening to me lately..." thought Ash.

He sure hoped that he would start obeying him one day...what if he ended up falling into a lake or something because he didn't listen? That wouldn't be fun for a fire-type.

These thoughts plagued him as he wondered what was going to come of his fiery Pokemon.

Deciding that he needed to put those thoughts behind him for the time being (as he was in a Pokemon battle where he was very likely to lose his Pokemon if he lost), Ash Ketchum instructed Primeape and Pikachu to Growlithepile Lickitung.

"Karate Chop! Thunderbolt!" ordered Ash.

Primeape and Pikachu both hit Lickitung at once, knocking him into the sky.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the tongue Pokemon as he was sent flying.

"Are we blasting off ahead of schedule?" asked James curiously.

"Not on my watch! Use Lick!" ordered Jessie.

While still in the air, Lickitung used his tongue to grab Primeape...and paralyze him.

"Primeape!" bellowed the pig monkey Pokemon. Getting grabbed by that Pokemon's tongue was very unpleasant.

"Pika pi..." murmured Pikachu. At this rate, he was going to end up battling without a Pokemon partner to back him up.

Where were Brock and Misty, anyway? They always seemed to be travelling with him up until now...then again, they were Gym Leaders and therefore they had things to do. There's always another Pokemon trainer that wants to challenge the gym, right?

"Keep attacking!" ordered Ash.

Pikachu hit Lickitung with Thunderbolt once again, but this time Primeape wasn't able to attack at all.

"Primeape..." murmured the pig monkey. Being paralyzed was such a pain. He wanted to run across the entire Silph Co. building, but now he couldn't. It was a tragedy.

He sure hoped that his Pokemon trainer gave him a Paralyz Heal soon...or gave him to Nurse Joy...whichever came first.

Unfortunately, Victreebel wasn't going to let Lickitung have all the fun. She immediately used Poison Powder to make Pikachu feel poisoned.

"Pikachu..." murmured the unfortunate Pikachu. It was only a matter of time before he fainted now...unless Ash Ketchum decided to switch him so that he could recover.

Naturally, Ash chose the latter. He immediately grabbed Pikachu and put him on the top of his head...

However, it appeared that he was going to have to use Charmeleon if he wanted a decent chance to defeat Victreebel.

"Charmeleon, I choose you!" exclaimed Ash.

"Charmeleon..." murmured Ash's Charmeleon. Always having to follow directions was such a pain. Couldn't he be a free spirit?

Rather than fight alongside Primeape, he instead decided to take a nap.

"Charmeleon..." murmured Ash.

"Primeape..." spoke the pig monkey Pokemon. Was he going to have to face Jessie and James alone?

However, at that very moment, Lickitung did something that provoked Charmeleon into fighting...

...he licked him in the face with his tongue.

"Charmeleon!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

He was not amused, and he hit both Lickitung and Victreebel with Flamethrower in retaliation.

Lickitung fainted.

Shaking her fist at anger in frustration, Jessie recalled her Lickitung and prepared to send out Arbok.

James's Victreebel did not fare much better, as she ended up being burned by that attack.

_Elsewhere..._

Jake immediately sent out his Machoke and his Wartortle to face Butch and Cassidy.

Likewise, they sent out their Tentacruel and their Cloyster.

"Giovanni's going to be so happy when he finds out that we defeated the twerp that humilated him!" exclaimed Butch.

"I bet he'll make us his personal bodyguards...or something like that. Personally I just hope that we end up becoming admins." noted Cassidy.

"You're going down!" bellowed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Machoke, use Karate Chop!" ordered Jake.

Jake's Machoke immediately hit Cloyster with Karate Chop.

"Cloyster!" bellowed the water Pokemon. It was a good thing his defense was very high or he would have taken a lot of damage from that attack. Why were ice Pokemon only resistant against each other's attacks?

Unfortunately, since Tentacruel was a water-type herself, water attacks were obviously not going to do Wartortle any good.

"Wartortle..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Curious, she noticed that her opponent had evolved since her last encounter with her, and began to wonder if it was time for her to evolve as well.

She began to focus energy for evolution...

Unfortunately, Tentacruel took the opportunity to grab her with her tentacles. Apparently, she didn't want her opponent to evolve before she made her faint.

"Yes! Stop her!" exclaimed Cassidy.

"Wartortle!" bellowed the turtle Pokemon.

"Oh no..." murmured Jake. Would she be able to evolve before the tentacles squeezed her into submission?

Fortunately, it appeared that Wartortle was evolving rather quickly...she began shifting between her current form and her evolved form.

Tentacruel was having a hard time keeping ahold of the evolving Pokemon.

Eventually, the tentacle Pokemon was forced to release Wartortle...

...who became a Blastoise.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the tortoise Pokemon.

Tentacruel looked rather unhappy. It appeared that its attempts to startle Wartortle out of evolution had failed...and she was now in for a world of hurt.

Jake scanned Blastoise with his Pokedex.

"Blastoise, the Shellfish Pokemon. A brutal Pokemon with pressurized water jets in its shell, which can also be used for high-speed tackles." explained the Pokedex.

"Wow..." murmured Jake.

Immediately, Blastoise sank her teeth into Tentacruel, causing her to flail about.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

"Oh, that's right, you can bite Pokemon rather than squirt them with water..." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

Unfortunately, Tentacruel managed to infect Machoke with Toxic...apparently, it was no longer focusing on Blastoise and had decided to help Cloyster defeat Machoke.

However, Machoke had managed to defeat Cloyster with a Seismic Toss.

"Cloyster..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Growling at Jake, Butch recalled his Cloyster and sent out his Primeape.

"Not so tough with one Pokemon, are you, Mitch?" asked Jake.

"My name is Butch!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"Why is that name so hard to remember?" inquired the preteen boy.

Cassidy shrugged.

Meanwhile, Chris was still trying to defeat Johnny, and vice versa.

"Give it up! You've already lost!" exclaimed Johnny.

However, much to Johnny's surprise, Chris's Fearow managed to get back up.

In retaliation for nearly getting hit by a one-hit kill move...Fearow decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Using Mirror Move, Fearow suddenly used his beak on Pinsir's face...

Caught by surprise, Pinsir ended up fainting instantly.

"What happened?!" exclaimed Johnny.

"It used Mirror Move...I guess." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

Glaring at Chris, Johnny recalled his Pinsir and decided to send out another Pokemon to defeat Fearow.

Unfortunately for Chris, he had just the Pokemon to do so.

"Go, Magneton!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Oh dear..." murmured Chris.

Immediately, Magneton hit Fearow with Thunderbolt, and he fainted.

"Well, I guess I'm going to use my Nidoking now..." noted Chris as she recalled her unfortunate flying Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Ivysaur, she didn't do much better against Slowbro as Pidgeot did. In fact, she narrowly avoided being frozen by Ice Beam, which did enormous damage to her nonetheless.

"I-Ivy s-saur..." chattered the dinosaur Pokemon.

"Oh dear...that Slowbro sure made you cold, didn't he?" noted Lucy.

Ivysaur nodded.

"Well, try hitting him with Razor Leaf. See if you can get a critical hit." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

Ivysaur hit Slowbro with a barrage of Razor Leaves, doing a critical hit and causing him to feel exhausted.

However, Slowbro hit Ivysaur with Psybeam shortly afterwards, and she fainted.

Lucy sighed. She was figuring that since Ivysaur was a grass-type that she would have the advantage...then again Slowbro was part psychic-type and Ivysaur was part poison-type, so that wasn't necessarily the case.

This time, Lucy decided to wing it.

"Go, Dratini!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Dratini!" bellowed the dragon Pokemon.

"Ha! You're sending that Pokemon to fight me? Don't make me laugh!" exclaimed Jerry.

Unfortunately for Jerry, this did not amuse Dratini, who immediately Slammed into Slowbro.

Apparently, he got a critical hit, because Slowbro collapsed on the floor.

"Slow...bro..." murmured the psychic Pokemon as he tried to help himself to his feet.

"Get up! And use Ice Beam!" commanded Jerry.

Unfortunately, since Slowbro was a slacker, he found lying down comfortable, and was taking his time doing so.

This gave Dratini the opportunity to hit him again, causing Slowbro to faint.

"Ugh! That was pathetic!" exclaimed Jerry as he recalled his Slowbro.

This time, he decided to send out the Pokemon that he caught the other day.

"Go, Ditto!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Ditto!" bellowed the transformation Pokemon.

"What is that?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Was this Pokemon some kind of pudding? Or was it something more similar.

Lucy scanned Ditto with her Pokedex.

"Ditto, the Transform Pokemon. It is capable of copying an enemy's genetic code and transform itself into a duplicate of its enemy."

"Hmm, something tells me I'm going to have a hard time telling which Pokemon in which..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Sure enough, Ditto began to transform...

...but for some strange reason, its Dratini form was pink rather than blue.

"Hmm?" asked Lucy.

"Darn it, Ditto! Why can't you transform into the same color as the Pokemon! Why are you always pink?!" exclaimed Jerry.

Apparently, Ditto was having problems shapeshifting.

Ditto tried to transform once again, but this time, he ended up the wrong size. He was about eight feet tall.

"You're too big!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Ditto..." murmured the transformation Pokemon.

"This might take a while..." noted Lucy. Apparently, this particular Ditto wasn't very good at shapeshifting.

Of course, Chris was still facing Johnny.

"Nidoking, use...well, a ground-type Pokemon move. I don't have a preference." said Chris.

Immediately, Chris's Nidoking hit Magneton with a powerful Earthquake.

"Magneton!" exclaimed Magneton.

As Magnetons had a severe weakness to ground-type attacks, the electric Pokemon fainted instantly.

"Well, that was surprisingly fast." noted Chris.

"I'm going to get you for that! Go, Exeggcute!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Exeggcute!" bellowed the egg Pokemon as they were released from their Pokeball.

"Funny, I always thought you and your gang were bad eggs..." noted Chris.

"Heh heh...I didn't notice that before." spoke Johnny.

Chris scanned Exeggcute with her Pokedex.

"Exeggcute, the Egg Pokemon. It is often mistaken for eggs. There must be six Exeggcute for it to maintain balance." explained Chris's Pokedex.

Sure enough, there appared to be a half of dozen of the grass and psychic Pokemon.

"Trying to take advantage of type advantages again, are we?" noted Chris.

Johnny nodded. The faster he managed to defeat Chris, the better, though personally he was started to get worried how he was going to fare without the rest of the Tough Tentacools. It was hard not being able to fight with his bikers.

At least Jerry and the Magikarp Salesman would pull, right?

Speaking of the Magikarp Salesman, Seadra was still facing Raichu.

"Seadra, use Twister!" exclaimed the salesman.

Immediately, Raichu found himself caught in a powerful twister...oddly enough, the move wasn't flying-type, or he wouldn't have been affected by it much otherwise.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon. Why was that move dragon-type? It seemed like something a Pokemon with wings would use.

"Raichu, keep using Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Raichu immediately hit Seadra with Thunderbolt, and she fainted too.

"Seadra..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"No!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman. He had already lost two of his Pokemon and his opponent had not yet lost any of his.

Refusing to give up, the salesman decided to send out yet another Pokemon that had evolved recently.

"Go, Poliwhirl!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

"Poliwhirl!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"You sure seem to have grown the last time I saw you..." noted Ned.

Ned scanned Poliwhirl with his Pokedex.

"Poliwhirl, the Tadpole Pokemon. It can live outside of water, but it needs to constantly sweat in order to keep itself slimy on land." explained the Pokedex.

"Funny, didn't you not have arms when I last saw you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

Poliwhirl scratched his head. He wasn't sure how they got there either...but why question something that he liked?

Immediately, Poliwhirl hit Raichu with Body Slam.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Unfortunately, that attack really hurt...and Ned was pretty sure that Raichu got a critical hit.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon.

"Use Thunderbolt yet again!" exclaimed Ned.

Unfortunately, Poliwhirl was quick, and leapt out of the way of the Thunderbolt.

The Magikarp Salesman then instructed Poliwhirl to dance.

"Why is he boogieing?" asked Ned curiously.

His question was answered when suddenly it began to rain...how it could possibly rain inside a building, the boy wasn't quite sure.

This left Ned at a significant disadvantage...the Magikarp Salesman's water Pokemon were going to have a field day in this kind of weather.

Unfortunately for the Magikarp Salesman, Jerry and Johnny were not very happy with him.

"Hey! Watch it!" bellowed Jerry.

"Quit raining on our parade! Literally!" exclaimed Johnny.

"I just wanted my Pokemon to have a field advantage..." complained the salesman.

"Good thing I brought an umbrella." noted Lucy as she pulled out an umbrella.

"You can say that again..." murmured Chris. She was starting to see why her parents wanted her to pack a raincoat.

_It looks like there's been a teamup...Jerry, Johnny, and the Magikarp Salesman have decided to work together to defeat our heroes. And it's not just him, either...Ash Ketchum and Jake have some opponents of their own to face._

_And yes, I will be continuing their Pokemon battles in another part...since this one is getting rather big._

_Peace!_


	40. Chapter 40: Point Of No Return

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter...well, our heroes are going to resume their respective duels respectively. And more Pokemon are going to evolve! Hooray!_

_Oh, and we're going to see what a certain evil man is up to at the moment...you should probably know that already...but you still want to see what he's doing, right?_

**Chapter 40: Point Of No Return**

As it turned out, Giovanni and Domino were both inside the president's office...trying to persuade him into giving up the Master Ball's location.

"Don't try hiding the Master Ball from me, president. I'll have you know that my henchmen are scattered throughout the entire building...and eventually they're going to find it." said Giovanni.

"Please! Leave Silph Co. along with your thugs! That's all I ask!" exclaimed the president.

"All I ask from you is the Master Ball. I'm not really interested in anything else your corporation to be honest...I already stole one of your products that you carelessly left outside the building...the Silph Scope, wasn't it?" asked the man.

"So that's where it went..." thought the president.

"Can I hit him with my flower until he squeals?" asked Domino.

"That might not be necessary, Domino...let's give our helpers more time to find the Master Ball...it's got to be around the facility somewhere." noted Giovanni.

Suddenly, a Team Rocket Grunt stormed into the room.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Giovanni.

"We're under attack by children! And a teenager!" bellowed the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Not again!" exclaimed Domino. Why did they keep encountering meddling kids?

"Well well well. It looks like I'm going to finally get my opportunity to get my revenge on those little brats that thought that they could make a fool out of me and get away with it..." noted Giovanni.

This time, he was sure that he was going to win.

Nonetheless, he had decided that he couldn't be too careful. He sought out some Pokemon trainers that happened to have grudges against Jake and his friends...and sure enough, he managed to find three of them.

"Hopefully they can keep them busy long enough for me to find that Master Ball..." noted Giovanni.

_Meanwhile..._

Charmeleon roasted Victreebel with his Flamethrower, causing her to faint instantly as she was already burned to begin with.

"Victreebel..." murmured the pitcher Pokemon.

At that very moment, Charmeleon began to evolve.

"Why do I get the feeling that he's going to be even more disobedient once he becomes a Charizard?" questioned Ash Ketchum.

It appeared that the more his Pokemon evolved, the more aggressive that they were going to get.

Personally, he was starting to see why his Pikachu did not want to evolve. Then again, he was able to defeat his evolution at one point.

Then again, he had no idea how he was able to use his tail to divert Raichu's electricity into the floor. Wouldn't it still have to go through his body first? Or could he simply absorb the electricity that way?

"Charizard!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Immediately, it let out a roar that terrified the Team Rocket Trio.

"Aah!" exclaimed Jessie.

"What have we gotten themselves into?" asked James.

"Um, did I mention you look attractive today?" inquired Meowth curiously.

Charizard hit Meowth with Flamethrower.

"Yeowch! That smarts!" bellowed the roasted Meowth.

Getting desperate, Jessie and James sent out Weezing and Arbok, and told them to hit Charizard with everything they had.

"Arbok!" bellowed Arbok, badly poisoning Charizard.

Weezing followed suit by hitting Charizard with Selfdestruct.

Unfortunately, that still wasn't enough to take down the fire Pokemon.

Charizard hit Arbok with Flamethrower, causing her to faint instantly.

Deciding that they didn't want Ash Ketchum again for a good long while, they began to retreat.

"Looks like Team Rocket's running off again!" exclaimed Jessie and James.

"Meowth! That's right!" bellowed Meowth.

"Way to go, Charizard...though to be honest, you actually scared me." noted Ash.

Charizard roasted Ash's face with Flamethrower, covering it with soot.

"Easy..." said Ash.

Ash Ketchum scanned Charizard with his Pokedex.

"Charizard, the Flame Pokemon. It can spit fire that is strong enough to melt boulders, and can accidentally cause forest fires." explained Ash's Pokedex.

"Yeah...I really don't want you on my bad side." noted the boy.

Charizard rolled his eyes. His opponents were simply too easy. Couldn't he face someone more challenging for a change?

His wish was granted shortly.

"Hey Ash! How about a Pokemon battle!" exclaimed a nearby boy.

Ash Ketchum looked around, and sighed. It was none other than his nemesis, Gary Oak.

"We don't have time for this, Gary. Team Rocket's raiding this building! I need to stop them!" exclaimed Ash.

"Don't worry about them. I'm sure those kids that were with you can handle it." explained the boy.

"Well, they probably can. But still!" bellowed the boy.

"C'mon! It's just one Pokemon battle!" exclaimed Gary.

"Fine...but if Giovanni gets his hands on the Master Ball it's on your conscience." explained Ash.

"Don't worry! This building is like a maze! He'll never be able to find it! Trust me!" bellowed the rival.

Ash Ketchum sighed as he prepared to battle his rival. Hopefully he could get this battle over with quickly...and not have too many of his Pokemon faint.

"Go, Pidgeot!" exclaimed Gary.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed Pidgeot as she was released from her Pokeball.

Unfortunately for Ash, his Pidgeotto had not evolved yet...so it looked like she wouldn't be a match for her evolved counterpart.

But it didn't really matter, because Charizard wanted to hog the spotlight of Ash's other Pokemon.

"Charizard!" exclaimed Ash's Charizard.

"What? You think you can defeat all of Gary's Pokemon by himself?" inquired the boy.

"Charizard!" nodded the flame Pokemon.

"I hope you're right." noted the boy.

Now that he thought of it, his Charizard certainly seemed to have a tremendous ego. Was this why he kept making his own rules and wouldn't listen to him anymore?

He got the feeling that this arrogance was going to get him in trouble one day...like the time he got his head stuck and it took an army of Pokemon to pull it out. Why does his cranium have to be so big?

_Meanwhile..._

"Poliwhirl!" bellowed Poliwhirl, hitting Raichu with Bubblebeam.

Unfortunately for Raichu, he had finally reached his limit, in no small part due to the fact that the weather was boosting the Magikarp Salesman's water Pokemon's strength.

"Raichu..." murmured Raichu as he fainted.

Unfortunately for Ned, he had left his Weepinbell in Professor Oak's Lab, so it looked like he wouldn't be able to exploit the water Pokemon's elemental weaknesses anymore.

"This battle might have taken a turn for the worse." noted the boy.

Shrugging, he decided to send out his starter to see how it went. He hadn't used him in a while.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" bellowed the rabbit Pokemon.

For some strange reason, Poliwhirl responded by pulling out some drumsticks...and beating them against his stomach.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

This wore down Poliwhirl drastically...but at the same time, the ten-year-old noticed that he now looked much more aggressive.

"Poliwhirl!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Ned realized that he was going to have to take down this particular Pokemon quickly.

He instructed Eevee to use Take Down, knocking Poliwhirl down to the ground.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

After helping himself to his feet, Poliwhirl hit Eevee with Body Slam.

He fainted, causing Ned to sigh. He was hoping that his starter Pokemon would last longer.

"Return, Eevee...you did all you could." noted Ned as he recalled Eevee.

"Eevee..." murmured Ned's Eevee.

"I guess it's time for me to send out...my Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

"Gyarados!" bellowed Ned's Gyarados as it was released from his Pokeball.

Hopefully he could use his Gyarados to turn things around...one of his current Pokemon was a fire-type while another was a ground-type.

If Gyarados went down, he might be in trouble.

Fortunately, sending out his strongest Pokemon worked surprisingly well...Gyarados was able to make short work of Poliwhirl using his Thrash technique.

Also, the rain was beginning to turn into a drizzle...so it looked like Rain Dance was going to wear off soon.

Scratching his head, the Magikarp Salesman decided to send out his Tentacruel.

"Tentacruel!" bellowed the tentacled Pokemon.

"Huh. We both have a Tentacruel...what were the chances of that?" questioned Johnny.

Speaking of Johnny, he was still battling Chris.

Unfortunately for Johnny's Exeggcute, psychic Pokemon were not resistant to poison attacks (though admittedly their attacks were super effective against them), so poison attacks would be effective against him.

Chris must have noticed this, because she instructed Nidoking to hit Exeggcute with a poison attack.

"Nidoking!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Nidoking hit Exeggcute with Poison Sting.

"Exeggcute!" exclaimed the egg Pokemon.

Exeggcute was poisoned.

In retaliation, he hit Nidoking with Confusion.

"Nidoking!" exclaimed the aggressive Pokemon. That hurt.

"Come on! Don't tell me you're afraid to make an omelette." said Chris.

Nidoking nodded...though personally he wished that Exeggcute wasn't part psychic type.

The poison Pokemon hit the egg Pokemon again, and Exeggcute was now feeling quite weak.

"Exeggcute..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"Darn it! Why does my Exeggcute have to be so weak!" exclaimed Johnny.

Hopefully he would be able to find a Leaf Stone so that he could evolve it. He was tired of his Exeggcute getting scrambled.

Johnny's Exeggcute fainted from the poison, and Johnny was forced to recall him so that he could sent out another Pokemon.

"Right then...I'm going to end this...once and for all!" exclaimed Johnny.

As it turned out, he had sent out his Tentacruel.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed the tentacled Pokemon.

However, as it turned out, since Ned's Gyarados was also fighting a Tentacruel, he ended up getting confused. Which Tentacruel should he hit? The Magikarp Salesman's or Johnny's?

He ended up choosing the latter.

He scored a critical hit, and Johnny's Tentacruel fainted.

"Nooooo!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Well, that's one down." noted Chris.

Immediately, Chris went to assist Ned in his Pokemon battle against the Magikarp Salesman...which was now two on one.

"Uh-oh..." thought the salesman.

Of course, Lucy was still facing Jerry and his Ditto, who had finally transformed into a Dratini...that happened to be cyan rather than blue.

"Close enough." thought the youngster.

Unfortunately for Jerry, Dratini got to go first.

"Hit it with Twister!" exclaimed Lucy.

Dratini immediately hit Ditto with Twister...since it had transformed into a Dragon Pokemon, this did super-effective damage.

"I'm not sure why dragon Pokemon are super-effective against each other...it's kind of confusing." noted Lucy.

"My Ditto!" exclaimed Jerry.

Unfortunately for Dratini, Ditto was now ready to hit Dratini in retaliation...

...but it missed.

"Ditto..." murmured the transformed Pokemon.

Dratini then hit Ditto again, and it fainted, transforming back into original blob form in the process.

More frustrated than ever, Jerry decided to send out his Sandslash.

"Sandslash!" bellowed the ground Pokemon.

"Right...just two more Pokemon left...I can do this..." thought the girl.

On the plus side, since Johnny had been defeated...it was now three against two...so they would surely be able to win now, right?

"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy. Here she was hoping that her Pokemon trainer would be able to hold out until then.

But speaking of which, was Jake doing OK?

As it turned out, he was still facing Butch and Cassidy, and was doing rather well, in fact. His Blastoise had managed to take down Tentacruel with a well-placed Bite.

Now all that was left now were Primeape and Raticate.

"Right then...if I can defeat these two Team Rocket Grunts, I should be able to make my way to Giovanni...he should be around here somewhere..." said Jake.

Of course, judging from the fact that Butch and Cassidy weren't retreating, his friends hadn't reached him yet.

Was there something blocking them?

"Something tells me they're facing Pokemon battles of their own..." noted Jake.

Suffice to say, he decided that he needed to wrap up this Pokemon battle quickly...his friends were going to need his help.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, Primeape began to lift Blastoise.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Fortunately for Blastoise, her shell would be able to protect her from being tossed into the sky, in no small part due to how resilient it was.

Unfortunately for Blastoise, it wouldn't protect her Pokemon partner.

Machoke did not see the attack coming, and she ended up being hit by Blastoise at full force.

"Machoke!" exclaimed the macho Pokemon.

Unfortunately, she ended up fainting.

Sighing, Jake decided that maybe it was time to send out another Pokemon that would be a better choice against Primeape.

"Let me think..." thought the boy.

Eventually, he got an idea.

"Go, Gloom!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Gloom!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Primeape, his fighting attacks would not be super-effective against a poison type.

As for Raticate...well, she had a different opponent to deal with at the moment.

Jake instructed Blastoise to hit Raticate with as much water as she could muster...which she did using her cannons to shoot multiple bubbles.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Cassidy's Raticate. It appeared that she was no match for Blastoise.

"I can't believe it...we're losing to twerps again!" bellowed Cassidy.

Sure enough, Gloom had managed to poison Primeape with some powder.

"Primeape..." murmured Butch's Primeape.

Primeape attempted to use Karate Chop on Gloom, but Gloom ducked underneath it and hit the monkey Pokemon with Giga Drain.

Primeape and Raticate both fainted, leaving Jake the victor.

Butch and Cassidy did not take this well.

"Oh man! We've got to warn Giovanni!" exclaimed Butch.

"Let's run for it!" bellowed Cassidy.

Butch and Cassidy fled for the hills.

"Well, that takes care of them...but I need to find my friends." noted Jake.

Fortunately, as he found out, they weren't far from his location...strangely enough there was actually a map nearby that indicated where they had gone.

"I guess they must want to keep track of their employees." thought the preteen.

Immediately, he began to teleport towards his destination.

_Meanwhile..._

Working together, Ned and Chris had managed to defeat the Magikarp Salesman's Tentacruel, and all that was left now was his Gyarados.

"Come on! All I wanted to do for a living was scam some dumb Pokemon trainers! Do you have any idea how many of them exist?" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

"No more, salesman, no more!" bellowed Ned.

The Magikarp Salesman sent out his last Pokemon to defeat Ned and Chris with.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"How do Pokemon that big fit inside this building anyway?" questioned Chris.

"Silph Co. just loves making skyscrapers I guess...then again they always seem to be loaded with cash." nodded Ned.

Unfortunately for our two heroes, Gyarados seemed to have gotten rather...strong, since their last encounter.

"Use Surf!" bellowed the Magikarp Salesman.

Gyarados immediately pelted Gyarados and Nidoking with an enormous burst of water. Lucy and her Clefairy immediately leapt onto a nearby shelf...while Jerry and Johnny got soaked.

"Gah! First the Rain Dance, and now this?!" bellowed Jerry.

"I'm having second thoughts about working with you..." noted Johnny.

Nidoking unfortunately got hit at point-blank range, and since he was a ground-type, he fainted.

On the plus side, this had made Sandslash faint as well.

"Sandslash..." murmured the unfortunate ground-type Pokemon. He had fainted because of one of his own teammates! Talk about irony.

Jerry immediately sent out his Hypno and recalled his Sandslash.

"Darn it! You made my Sandslash faint!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Sorry." said the salesman.

Chris sighed as she recalled her Nidoking and prepared herself to send out another Pokemon...in this case, one that would have an easier time avoiding the tidal waves.

"Haunter, I choose you." said Chris.

"Haunter!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

Jerry immediately began to hide behind the shelf that Lucy and her Clefairy had used to escape the tidal wave.

Of course, this left nobody to command Hypno.

"Hypno?" asked Jerry's Hypno curiously.

Naturally, Chris decided to take advantage of this so that the Magikarp Salesman's Gyarados wouldn't receive any assistance.

"Use Shadow Punch!" exclaimed Chris.

Haunter immediately hit Hypno with Shadow Punch, and it was a critical hit.

"Hypno!" exclaimed Jerry's Hypno.

Unfortunately for Hypno, without his Pokemon trainer, he simply could not think of a way to respond to the situation.

By the looks of it, he had gotten pretty used to having Jerry command him...even if he was a rather abusive Pokemon trainer.

"Hypno..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. What was he going to do?

Meanwhile, Lucy's Clefairy decided to give Ned a hand. Using Metronome, she began to summon a Thunderbolt.

This did a large amount of damage to Gyarados...though unfortunately this wasn't enough to take him down.

"Huh, I was expecting that to be a one-hit KO..." noted Lucy.

Had Gyarados really become that strong?

Fortunately for Jerry, Hypno had made sure to take cover from the tidal wave to avoid getting struck, unlike his Sandslash a few minutes ago.

Of course, Haunter had managed to avoid getting hit by the tidal wave as well (as he simply floated right over it), and Chris ordered him to attack Hypno before Jerry came back to his senses.

"Use Shadow Punch!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Haunter immediately Hypno, causing him to faint.

Strangely enough, Jerry had not yet noticed that his entire team of Pokemon had fainted, as he was still cowering in fear from Haunter.

Now, all that was left was the Magikarp Salesman's Gyarados...

Or not, as Lucy's Clefairy had managed to take him down once and for all.

"Well, it looks we managed to defeat you three..." noted Chris.

"Darn it! We'll get our revenge some day!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Why couldn't we win?!" bellowed Jerry.

"I'm going to scam some more Pokemon trainers...you're too good for me..." said the Magikarp Salesman.

Immediately, the three Pokemon trainers used the teleporter to leave the corporation building.

Jake appeared a few minutes later.

"There you are! I was starting to get worried!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Yeah, I was starting to worry about you two to be honest." spoke the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Where is Ash Ketchum? I thought he was going to be helping us..." spoke Chris.

"Yeah...what's taking him so long?" questioned Ned.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Somehow, she got the feeling that Ash was facing someone other than Team Rocket. They wouldn't have been able to hold him off for this long.

Curious, she noticed something that had been washed towards them by all the tidal waves Gyarados had created earlier.

"Clefairy?" asked the female Pokemon. What could it possibly be?

She decided to show it to her friends to see if they could use it for something.

_Meanwhile..._

Charizard immediately hit Pidgeot with Flamethrower, inflicting a burn.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Well, this looks like a good start..." noted Ash.

Unfortunately for Charizard, Pidgeot began to fly into the air...so it looked like the fire Pokemon was going to have to pursue her.

Immediately, he began to fly into the sky to chase her down...

...only to get dive-bombed.

"Charizard!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Ha! Looks like your little dragon isn't as tough as he looks!" exclaimed Gary.

Ash Ketchum sighed. Why did his rival have to be so cocky? Then again, now that he thought of it, he was rather confident in his abilities himself, though he didn't usually boast about them.

However, as it turned out, Charizard was also able to use that particular technique.

Dive-bombing Pidgeot in return, he caused her to crash into the ground.

"Pidgeot..." murmured the bird Pokemon.

"Maybe he's actually tougher than he looks." noted Ash Ketchum.

Gary sighed. Apparently he had spoken too soon.

Charizard then finished off Pidgeot with Flamethrower.

"Huh! I guess you're slightly stronger than I thought...well no matter! I've got just the Pokemon to take care of you! It's time for me to send out...my starter!" exclaimed Gary.

"Your starter?" asked Ash.

"Yes! I bet you've been waiting for it for a long time, haven't you?" asked the boy.

"I've always been a bit curious what it was." noted Ash.

"Well, alright then...I choose you...Blastoise!" exclaimed Gary.

"Blastoise!" bellowed Gary's Blastoise as he was released from his Pokeball.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ash. Why couldn't it have been Venusaur?

Unfortunately for Charizard, he was as arrogant as ever. He believed that regardless of the type disadvantage, he would be able to win with ease.

But as it turned out, no such luck. Blastoise immediately hit Charizard with Hydro Pump.

"Charizard!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. Sweet loving Moltres, that hurt.

Unfortunately for Charizard, he was feeling very worn out after that attack. His Flamethrower did not hurt Blastoise at all.

Blastoise then finished off Charizard with Skull Bash, and that was it.

"Charizard..." murmured Ash's Charizard. Maybe he should have tried obeying his Pokemon trainer for once.

Sighing as he recalled his strongest Pokemon, Ash decided that the best Pokemon for the job would be one that had a type advantage.

In this case, he chose his Pikachu, since he was his starter Pokemon as well.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" exclaimed Ash.

"Pika pi!" bellowed Pikachu.

"Use Thunderbolt!" ordered the boy.

Pikachu immediately hit Blastoise with Thunderbolt, which actually really hurt the tortoise Pokemon.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"I guess it's time for me to withdraw my starter Pokemon and swap him out with another Pokemon..." noted Gary.

Switching out his unfortunate water Pokemon, he instead decided to send out his Rhyhorn.

"Rhyhorn!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon.

Ash realized that he was in a bad situation. Electric attacks wouldn't do him any good against Rhyhorn at all.

He decided it was time to switch out his Pokemon as well.

"Return, Pikachu! Go, Bulbasaur!" exclaimed Ash.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed Bulbasaur as Pikachu returned to rest on Ash's head.

"Rhyhorn, we can still do this! Hit him with Horn Attack!" exclaimed Gary.

Gary's Rhyhorn immediately went to charge towards Bulbasaur...

...but he began to charge up a Solarbeam.

"Look out!" exclaimed Gary.

Unfortunately for Rhyhorn, it was too late, and he ended up getting hit at point-blank range. Rhyhorns weren't well-known for their intelligence, they were well-known for their impulsiveness.

"Rhyhorn..." murmured the rock and ground Pokemon. That was going to hurt in the morning...and the morning after that.

Gary sighed as he recalled Rhyhorn. Why did he have to have a quadruple weakness against grass attacks?

Hopefully his next Pokemon would be able to turn the tables against him.

"Go, Arcanine!" exclaimed the boy.

_Meanwhile..._

"Well, I don't think we can spend all day waiting for him. If he's staying behind to help us deal with Team Rocket and whoever's aligned themselves with them, then he's staying behind." said Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Are you being a thief again, Clefairy?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon.

"Well, we might as well see what this does." noted the female Pokemon trainer. "Wait, what does it do, anyway? It looks like some sort of cable..."

Ned decided to take a peek, and he immediately recognized what it was.

"I know what this is! It's a Link Cable! We can use this to evolve Pokemon...so long as they can evolve through trading..." stated the boy.

"Really? Well, since my Haunter is still out of his Pokeball...I guess we should try testing it out on him." explained Chris.

Curious, the female Pokemon trainer gave the Link Cable to Haunter to see if he was interested in evolving.

Apparently he was, because he began to draw energy from it and was rapidly evolving.

When the evolution was over, Haunter was looking stronger than ever.

"Gengar!" exclaimed the fully evolved ghost Pokemon.

"Well, would you look at that...you finally have feet." noted Chris.

Curious, Gengar looked down, and discovered that he was no longer floating.

"Gengar..." murmured the ghost Pokemon. It felt rather strange having to walk rather than float around for a change.

But apparently that was life...or the afterlife in this case.

Chris scanned Gengar with her Pokedex.

"Gengar, the Shadow Pokemon! Under a full moon, it likes to mimic the shadows of people and laugh at their fright!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, Gengar was trying to mimic Chris's shadow, and was making faces at her.

"Very funny, Gengar." said Chris.

Ned began to feel very nervous. Was he going to try that with him one night?

He then noticed that the Link Cable still had enough power for one more evolution, and he decided to send out his Graveler.

"Go, Graveler!" exclaimed Ned.

"Graveler!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

Ned handed the Link Cable to Graveler to see if she would like to evolve as well.

As it turned out, she wanted to evolve too.

Much like Haunter, it only took a few seconds.

"Golem!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

"Huh...I wonder what happened to your extra pair of arms..." noted Ned.

As it turned out, Ned's Golem did not have these extra pair of arms anymore. She began to scratch her head. Where did they go?

Ned scanned Golem with his Pokedex.

"Golem, the Megaton Pokemon. Its boulder-like body is extremely hard, and dynamite will not budge it." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"Wow. That's one impressive shell you've got there..." noted Ned.

Golem scratched her head. Since when did her pre-evolution have a shell?

Shrugging, she decided that her new body was going to need some time getting used to.

"Well, this Link Cable is out of juice...we're going to need to find another one if you want to evolve some of your Pokemon too..." noted Ned.

"Fair enough." nodded Lucy.

"Clef." agreed Lucy's Clefairy. Surely there was another nearby, right?

Curious, our heroes entered the next teleporter to see where it would lead them.

As it turned out, it led them straight towards a Nurse Joy...and her Chansey.

"Hello there! Pleased to see you, Pokemon trainers!" exclaimed the nurse.

"Shouldn't you be at the Pokemon Center?" asked Ned.

"I was paying Silph Co. a visit when Team Rocket invaded the facility...my Chansey and I have been hiding from them ever since." explained Nurse Joy.

"I see." nodded Jake.

"If you want I could heal your Pokemon..." said the nurse.

"OK." nodded Lucy.

Ned immediately handed the nurse his Eevee, who her Chansey immediately healed with Softboiled.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the fortunate evolution Pokemon.

And to make life easier for our heroes, there was a PC right next to Nurse Joy.

"I'm not sure how this PC got here...but I believe you can use to switch out your Pokemon." explained the nurse.

Ned decided to switch out his Chansey for his Weepinbell, since she missed him so much.

"Weepinbell!" exclaimed the happy grass Pokemon.

"Yeah yeah...take it easy." explained Ned.

Likewise, Chris decided to get her Snorlax. Things were going to get hairy, and she knew how strong he was.

Curious, our heroes noticed that there was a teleporter a few feet away from them.

Nurse Joy immediately warned our heroes to stay away from it.

"Um, I wouldn't go there if I were you...you see, that leads to the president's office...where the leader of Team Rocket is." explained Nurse Joy.

All of a sudden, our heroes realized just how lucky they were to have a Nurse Joy inside a corporation.

"I guess the author wants us to be ready for when we face Giovanni." noted Ned.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. Did Ned just break the fourth wall?

"What? Why would he bring Nurse Joy into the building with us along with that PC otherwise?" asked Ned.

"So that's how I got here..." noted Nurse Joy.

"Of course, now that I think of it, once we go through that teleporter, there's probably not going to be any turning back...either we win against Giovanni, or we lose..." said the boy.

"Yeah, it sure looks that way..." spoke Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fairy Pokemon.

"I suppose we should make sure we're ready, then." said Jake.

It wasn't going to be an easy fight, no doubt about it.

Suddenly, a man that Ned immediately recognized came to pay them a visit.

"Father!" exclaimed Ned.

"Is this your dad?" asked Chris.

Sure enough, he happened to look just like his son.

"There you are! I was so worried about you!" exclaimed Mr. Kagome.

"I take it you were aware that I went inside a Team Rocket-infested building?" asked Ned.

"That, and I heard that you went into their hideout." explained the man.

"Yeah..." nodded the boy.

"Are you OK? Did they hurt you?" asked the man.

"I'm fine." said Ned.

Ned's father immediately looked at Nurse Joy...but then looked the other way. He was a married man.

"I think I know where Ned gets his attraction to girls from..." noted Chris.

"Yeah..." said Ned.

"Anyways, I want you to keep an eye on this rare Pokemon from me...it's an endangered Pokemon species and I don't want Giovanni or his henchmen to get his hands on it!" exclaimed Mr. Kagome.

"Is it adorable?" asked the boy.

Mr. Kagome nodded.

"Lucy, this one's all yours." said Ned, handing it to Lucy.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Lucy.

Lucy scanned the Pokeball with her Pokedex to see what Pokemon Mr. Kagome had given her.

"Lapras, the Transport Pokemon. It has been overhunted almost to extinction, and it can be used to ferry trainers across water." explained the Pokedex.

Noticing how cute the water and ice Pokemon was, Lucy began to squeal.

She immediately decided to switch out her Golduck for the Lapras for some extra type diversity.

"Right, are we ready to go now?" asked Chris.

"I believe so, yeah." nodded Ned.

Immediately, the four Pokemon trainers entered the teleporter.

They knew that Giovanni was waiting for them at the president's office...but beyond that they had no idea what to expect...

_It's time for our heroes to battle Giovanni once and for all...can they pull it off? It's going to be one exciting battle...I can tell you that._

_In the next chapter, well, our heroes are going to take on the leader of Team Rocket again...you should know that by now...but can they defeat him once again?_

_Peace!_


	41. Chapter 41: Return Of Giovanni

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter...our heroes are going to confront Giovanni again...how will things turn out this time? Hopefully they'll be able to defeat him again...right?_

_Right?_

**Chapter 41: Return Of Giovanni**

As soon as our heroes entered the office, they immediately found Giovanni applauding them.

"Well, look what we have here...it appears that you're here to stop me...why am I not surprised?" inquired Giovanni.

"Leave the president of Silph Co. alone!" demanded Lucy.

"Unfortunately, I'm only interested in facing Jake at the moment...Domino!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Immediately, Domino pulled out her flower and sprayed Lucy, Chris, and Ned with her flower. All of a sudden, they found themselves paralyzed.

"Ugh..." said Lucy.

"Can't move..." spoke Ned.

"Clef...fairy..." murmured Clefairy. That Stun Spore was really powerful.

"I...won't...give...in..." whispered Chris.

"Guys!" exclaimed Jake.

"Right then...now that I've taken care of your friends...we can have a rematch." said Giovanni.

"I won't let you steal the Master Ball!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Oh, believe it, I'm sure my Grunts are close to finding it. Go, Nidorino!" explained the man.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Er, what happened to your Onix?" asked Jake curiously.

"Well, you see..." explained Giovanni.

_Giovanni was busy training with his Pokemon. He was going to teach them how to deal with that little pest that insisted on thwarting his schemes._

_However, at that very moment, something unexpected happened._

_As it turns out, his Onix had noticed a rather beautiful-looking member of his species._

_Immediately, he decided to run off with her...as she happened to be heading towards a nearby cavern._

_Unfortunately for Giovanni, he didn't realize what he was doing..._

_...until he was too late._

_"Where are you going?!" exclaimed the man._

_"Onix!" cheered the rock snake Pokemon._

_In frustration, Giovanni threw his Onix's Pokeball..._

_...and ended up breaking it._

_"Boooooo!" exclaimed the unfortunate man. Why did his Onix have to leave him?_

_Ah well...at least he had managed to catch a Nidorino one day...he would serve as a suitable replacement..._

_...right?_

"Your Onix ditched you to be another Pokemon?" inquired Jake.

"Yes..." nodded Giovanni.

"What kind of Pokemon would do that?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

_Meanwhile..._

Ash's Butterfree looked rather confused. He just got the feeling that someone was referring to him from somewhere.

His girlfriend told him not to worry, and that he wanted him to be happy, which was why he allowed her to be with him.

Still, he had to wonder where he was now.

Speaking of his girlfriend, she was currently deciding what to name her children. She had about...a dozen of them.

Ash's Butterfree fainted. What had he gotten himself into? And just who had referred to him? Was it Ash Ketchum himself?

_Back to our heroes..._

"Anyways...go, Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

"Marowak!" bellowed the skull Pokemon.

Seeing the Marowak recalled a past incident he and his men had caused.

"Ah, that reminds me...I believe my henchmen were responsible for the haunting of Pokemon Tower, weren't we?" inquired Giovanni.

"What?" asked Jake curiously.

"Ah yes...one of my men killed a Marowak...said he didn't like it when Pokemon tried to defend their children...and that it made his job so much more difficult...I personally don't blame him." explained Giovanni.

This caused something to snap inside Marowak.

"Marowak!" bellowed the skull Pokemon.

Immediately, he started attacking Nidorino like berserk.

"Hmm...something tells me that he isn't going to follow directions..." spoke the preteen.

Sure enough, Marowak was now deaf to his instructions.

Unfortunately, Giovanni was willing to take perfect advantage of it.

"Use Fury Attack!" exclaimed the man.

Jake tried to warn Marowak that he was too close to his horns...but unfortunately he was too angry to listen to him.

This allowed Nidorino to get a critical hit, and for Marowak to get badly poisoned.

"Maro...wak..." murmured the skull Pokemon. Though it still felt like a Primeape, it was also starting to feel rather...weak.

Marowak tried attacking Nidorino once again, but this time he wasn't attacking nearly as quickly as before.

This gave Nidorino the opportunity to finish off Marowak with a Horn Attack.

"Marowak..." murmured the unfortunate skull Pokemon.

"Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

Unfortunately for Lucy and Ned, they were still too paralyzed to send out their Pokemon.

On the other hand, Chris's hand was moving slightly.

"This is off to a bad start..." thought the boy.

Knowing that his friends were in danger, Jake realized that he was going to have to do better than he did a few seconds prior if he was going to defeat Giovanni.

So, he decided to send out Blastoise.

"Go, Blastoise!" exclaimed the man.

"Blastoise!" bellowed the tortoise Pokemon.

Suffice to say, Giovanni realized that he might have a problem. Ground Pokemon (which were his speciality) were weak against water attacks.

But he decided to keep his cool. He could just send out Kangaskhan if Nidorino fainted, right?

Unfortunately for Giovanni, Nidorino wasn't going to last long. By the looks of it, his opponent had taught his Blastoise how to Surf.

"Funny how that HM happened to be one of the shelves, wasn't it? Then again I probably wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't knocked it down during our battle against Butch and Cassidy..." asked Jake.

"Blast!" nodded Jake's Blastoise.

Unfortunately, Nidorino could not tolerate that kind of water power after his battle with Marowak, and he fainted.

"Yes!" exclaimed Jake.

"You defeated my Nidorino, did you? No matter. I know just the Pokemon to call..." said Giovanni.

"Your Kangaskhan?" asked the boy curiously.

"Yes. Go, Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the boss of Team Rocket.

"Kangaskhan!" bellowed the kangaroo Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Blastoise, Giovanni managed to turn the tables from here.

"Use Thunder Punch!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Giovanni's Kangaskhan immediately hit Blastoise with Thunder Punch, paralyzing her and causing her a large amount of harm. Apparently it was a critical hit.

"Blastoise!" bellowed Jake.

"Ha! I had a feeling that you were going to use that Pokemon...did you think that I wasn't paying attention to what you were using in your Pokemon battles?" asked Giovanni.

"Uh-oh..." thought the former Team Rocket Grunt. Apparently, Giovanni was designing his Pokemon team to specifically counter his.

Chris's other hand began to twitch.

Blastoise hit Kangaskhan with another Surf as her trainer commanded...but unfortunately, Kangaskhan braced herself with impact and did not take too much damage.

Kangaskhan hit Blastoise with another Thunder Punch, and she fainted too...

"Blastoise..." murmured Jake.

Realizing that he was now losing this fight, Jake decided to send out his Machoke to deal with Kangaskhan.

"Machoke!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon.

"Good luck Machoke...you're going to need it." noted Jake. Inevitably, Giovanni was going to have a way to counter his Machoke as well.

As it turned out, Kangaskhan now knew Aerial Ace as well.

"Machoke!" bellowed the unfortunate fighting Pokemon as she was hit. Unfortunately, there was no avoiding that attack.

"Machoke, hang in there! Use Karate Chop!" exclaimed Jake.

Fortunately, Machoke was able to do super-effective damage as well with her fighting-type attacks.

Kangaskhan hit Machoke with another Aerial Ace, causing the macho Pokemon to begin to feel tired.

Fortunately, Machoke had learned a new technique. She picked up Kangaskhan and tossed her with all her might, causing her to faint.

"Looks like you've learned Vital Throw..." noted Jake.

With two of his Pokemon fainted, Giovanni decided it was time to send out his Nidoqueen.

"Go, Nidoqueen!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Nidoqueen!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Chris began to moan.

Unfortunately, fighting Pokemon weren't effective against poison types.

"This keeps getting worse and worse...unfortunately, he was smart enough not to send out his Rhyhorn..." thought Jake.

Nidoqueen immediately poisoned Machoke, causing her to feel very ill.

"Machoke..." murmured the macho Pokemon.

Suffice to say, it looks like she wasn't going to be able to battle Nidoqueen for very long.

Making use of the time he still had, Jake instructed Machoke to use Seismic Toss.

Of course, the bigger a Pokemon was, the harder they fell.

"Nidoqueen!" exclaimed Nidoqueen.

Unfortunately, her horn hit Machoke's arm in the process, causing her to faint from the poison.

"Oh no..." thought Jake. Was he going to lose?

Getting desperate, Jake decided to send out his Grimer.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

"Grime!" bellowed the sludge Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Grimer was vulnerable to ground attacks...which Giovanni and his Nidoqueen happily exploited.

"Earthquake!" bellowed Giovanni.

Nidoqueen used Earthquake on Grimer..and he fainted instantly.

"Nooo..." murmured Jake. Much to his shock, he had lost.

"Right then...now where were we? Ah yes! I'll be helping myself to your Pokemon..." noted Giovanni.

Immediately, two Team Rocket Grunts came by and started taking Jake's Pokemon away with him.

"Please...don't take my Grimer...he's been my pal since forever..." asked Jake.

Shrugging, Giovanni decided to honor that request...Grimer would smell bad, anyway.

"Right then...now that I've gotten your Pokemon away with you...I think I'll start with your friends..." said the leader of Team Rocket.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts began to take Lucy and Ned's Pokeballs as well.

However, when one of them went to pick up Chris's Pokeballs, something unexpected happened.

"You're not...taking anything..." said Chris.

Suddenly, the teenage girl rose to her feet.

"What?!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Oh dear...she's a fighter, isn't she?" noted Domino.

Immediately, Giovanni began to heal up his Pokemon. It looks like he was going to have to battle another Pokemon trainer...

But he defeated her once, so he could do so again just as easily, right?

"Go, Nidorino!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, Chris wasn't going to repeat her previous mistakes.

"Go, Gengar!" bellowed the Pokemon trainer.

_Meanwhile..._

Realizing that Bulbasaur wasn't going to be a match for Arcanine, Ash decided it was time to switch out his Pokemon.

"Return, Bulbasaur!" exclaimed Ash.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed Bulbasaur as he went back inside his Pokeball.

"Go, Squirtle!" exclaimed the Pokemon trainer.

For a moment, it seemed that Squirtle was inevitably going to be the winner of the battle. He was a water type and Arcanine was a fire type. Surely that meant he was going to win, right?

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the battle wasn't one-sided in Squirtle's favor. As it turned out, he had a problem...Arcanine was fast, and he was slow.

"Squirtle squirtle squirt!" bellowed Squirtle in frustration. He could not hit Arcanine with his water attacks.

On the other hand, Arcanine was not having a hard time hitting him. While he had his shell to defend himself, he needed to withdraw into it at a split second...which wasn't an easy task for him.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Squirtle..." murmured Squirtle sadly.

"I might as well scan Arcanine with my Pokedex..." noted Ash. Surely there would be something he could use against Arcanine, right?

"Arcanine, the Legendary Pokemon. It has been admired in the past due to its beauty, and it runs as it is on wings." explained Ash's Pokedex.

"He sure can run like that..." noted Ash.

Apparently, he was going to need a faster Pokemon if he wanted to defeat Arcanine...so he decided to switch out Squirtle and use Pikachu instead.

"Pikachu, I choose you! For a second time." explained Ash.

"Pika pi..." murmured Ash's Pikachu. Hopefully having to battle so much wasn't going to tire him out.

Fortunately, Pikachu had a much easier time dealing with Arcanine than Squirtle did, and he managed to hit Arcanine with a Thunderbolt and paralyze him.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed Arcanine. Pikachu's Thunderbolts packed a whallop.

"No!" bellowed Gary.

All of a sudden, taking on Arcanine became a whole lot easier...he was up a creek without a paddle.

Pikachu proceeded to make short work of Arcanine. Grunting in frustration, Gary decided to send out Exeggutor...which of course was resistant to electric attacks.

Ash Ketchum immediately recalled Pikachu and sent out Pidgeotto.

Unfortunately, Gary wasn't going to use grass attacks against Pidgeotto however.

"Use Psychic!" bellowed Gary.

Gary's Exeggutor immediately hit Pidgeotto with Psychic, causing her to feel dizzy.

"This isn't good..." murmured Ash.

She immediately slapped herself in the face in confusion. Thankfully, for some strange reason, she was still able to keep herself in midair.

This gave Exeggutor the opportunity to hit her again with another Psychic, causing her to collapse on the ground.

"Ha! I guess your bird Pokemon's out of my league!" bellowed Gary.

Suddenly, Pidgeotto began to evolve.

Gary sweatdropped.

"I may have spoken too soon." noted Ash's arrogant rival.

As it turned out, Pidgeotto had become a Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Yes! You did it!" bellowed Ash.

"Pidgeot!" cheered the bird Pokemon.

Ash scanned his new Pidgeot with his Pokedex...though personally he wondered why he didn't do that with Gary's.

"Pidgeot, the Bird Pokemon. It flies at Mach 2 speed, and its large talons are deadly weapons." explained Ash's Pokedex.

"You sure have gotten fast..." noted Ash.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed Ash's Pidgeot.

"So what if your Pidgeotto evolved? Big deal! I'm still going to wipe the floor with it!" taunted Gary.

Unfortunately for Gary, Pidgeot proved to be a difficult opponent, as Exeggutor wasn't fast enough to hit her with his psychic attacks anymore.

In fact, it looked as if he was up a creek without a paddle. Of course, since he did not have arms, he could not use a paddle to begin with.

And to make matters worse, Pidgeot could now use Fly...meaning that Exeggutor only had the opportunity to attack Pidgeot only half of the time.

To make a long story short, Exeggutor could not battle Pidgeot effectively and he eventually fainted.

"Exeggutor..." murmured Exeggutor. Incidentally, all three of his faces had swirls in their eyes.

Stomping his foot in frustration, Gary recalled his Exeggutor to see if he could find a better Pokemon to battle Pidgeot with.

He then remembered how fast his Arcanine was, and decided it would be the Pokemon for the job.

"Go, Alakazam!" bellowed the boy.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed Arcanine.

Unfortunately for Pidgeot, she simply wasn't a match for Alakazam's psychic powers...in fact, he managed to make short work of her.

"Yes!" cheered Gary.

"Good work, Pidgeot..." noted Ash as he recalled his Pidgeot.

Grunting in frustration, Gary decided it was time to send out his Alakazam.

"This time you're finished!" bellowed Ash's rival.

"Alakazam!" bellowed the Alakazam.

Oddly enough, Ash Ketchum recalled facing an Alakazam's preevolution Kadabra at one point...hopefully he wasn't ridiculously overpowered like that particular Kadabra was.

"Go, Pikachu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"Pika pi!" bellowed the mouse Pokemon as he jumped towards Alakazam.

Personally he wondered what had ever become of his previous Haunter...now that he thought of it, didn't somebody he knew manage to catch a Gastly at the Pokemon Tower? She didn't seem afraid of it, oddly enough.

"Use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ash.

"Pika...chu!" bellowed the electric mouse Pokemon.

Alakazam was hit by a powerful surge of electricity that knocked him off his feet...

...but unfortunately, Gary was instructing to Recover.

"Alakazam..." murmured the psychic Pokemon as his injuries began to heal.

"We're going to need to keep the hurt on him, Pikachu!" exclaimed Ash.

Pikachu nodded. Alakazam's healing abilities were powerful...but thankfully no Pokemon could heal themselves and attack at the same time.

Pikachu hit Alakazam with another Thunderbolt...causing him to hit Pikachu with a powerful Psychic in retaliation.

"Pikachu!" exclaimed Pikachu.

Thankfully, he wasn't injured too much, but nonetheless it still hurt.

However, Pikachu was able to hit Alakazam with another wicked Thunderbolt, causing Alakazam to collapse on the ground.

At that very moment, Gary realized that he had lost.

"Bah! You win again, Ash! But one of these days I'm going to become the very best!" exclaimed Gary.

Immediately, Gary Oak left SIlph Co. so that he could continue his Pokemon journey.

"Smell you later!" bellowed Gary. Apparently, he could not stand Ash Ketchum's foul stench...even though he had made sure he was clean before visiting Saffron City.

After visiting Nurse Joy to heal up his Pokemon, Ash Ketchum decided he needed to search for Giovanni.

"He's got to be around here somwhere..." noted Ash.

_Meanwhile..._

"Hit him with Shadow Ball!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Gengar immediately struck Nidorino with Shadow Ball, doing extensive ghost-type damage.

"Your Gengar knows Shadow Ball now?" asked Ned.

"Yeah...he's gotten really strong." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Nidorino!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"Nidorino, hit her Gengar with Poison Sting!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Unfortunately for Nidorino, this did not hurt Gengar much...in fact, it tickled.

"Gengar!" laughed Chris's Gengar.

In retaliation, Chris's Gengar hit Nidorino with another Shadow Ball...which made him faint.

Giovanni gasped in astonishment. After their last encounter, how could have Chris have defeated his Nidorino so easily?

Deciding that Chris had simply gotten lucky, he decided to send out his Rhyhorn next.

"Go, Rhyhorn!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, Gengar was going to be a difficult opponent.

Once again, Gengar hit Rhyhorn with Shadow Ball.

"Rhyhorn!" exclaimed the rhino Pokemon. That hurt.

Unfortunately for Rhyhorn, he could not simply stomp on Gengar or hit him with his horn, as he was a ghost-type.

Instead, he started hurling rocks at Gengar.

"Gengar!" bellowed Gengar. Those rocks stung...though thankfully he wasn't hurt too much.

Gengar hit Rhyhorn with another Shadow Ball, and this he fainted.

Giovanni gasped in shock. Already Chris's Gengar had managed to take down two of his Pokemon...

Starting to get desperate, Giovanni decided to send out his Kangaskhan.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Kangaskhan.

"Er, do you know any moves that aren't ghost-type?" asked Chris curiously. Of course, ghost-type attacks weren't going to cause Kangaskhan any pain.

"Gengar..." murmured the ghost Pokemon. Surely he would be able to think of something...

Immediately, he laid a curse on Kangaskhan.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the kangaroo Pokemon. It wasn't going to be long before she fainted.

Of course, this also halved Gengar's HP, which left Gengar vulnerable to...

"Thunder Punch!" bellowed Giovanni.

Kangaskhan hit Gengar with Thunder Punch as hard as she could, causing him to faint.

"Gengar..." murmured the ghost Pokemon.

Shrugging, Chris decided it was time to send out her Onix next.

"Onix!" bellowed the rock snake Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Chris, as it turned out, Kangaskhan could use Earthquake.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Kangaskhan as she struck Onix.

"Good, Kangaskhan..." murmured Giovanni.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock snake Pokemon.

Fortunately, Onix was still able to battle, and Chris decided to ask Onix to see if he could hit Kangaskhan with an Earthquake of his own.

Sure enough, Onix could do so.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed the kangaroo Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Chris, Kangaskhan managed to faint Onix with another Earthquake. But that very moment, the Curse that Gengar had inflicted on her took effect, and she fainted.

"Kangaskhan!" bellowed Giovanni.

Realizing that he was now down to his last Pokemon, Giovanni decided that he was going to have to make this last Pokemon count.

"Go, Nidoqueen!" exclaimed the leader of Team Rocket.

"Nidoqueen!" bellowed the poisonous Pokemon.

Sending out her Jigglypuff to deal with Nidoqueen in retaliation...Chris instructed her to use Sing.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, he had now trained his Nidoqueen against Jigglypuff...so she ended up falling asleep.

"No!" bellowed Giovanni.

Jigglypuff then followed up by hitting Nidoqueen with a Body Slam, knocking her to the floor.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, Nidoqueen was still asleep.

This gave Jigglypuff the opportunity to hit Nidoqueen again, who at this point was taking quite a beating.

"Wake up!" demanded Giovanni.

Fortunately for Giovanni, Nidoqueen woke up shortly afterwards, and poisoned Jigglypuff with her poison barbs.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jiggly..." murmured Chris's Jigglypuff.

However, as it turned out, Jigglypuff only needed one more Body Slam to defeat Nidoqueen, as this time she managed to score a critical hit.

Nidoqueen fainted...much to Giovanni's surprise. He had lost again...and this time he had lost to the very same Pokemon trainer he had defeated earlier.

Sure enough, Domino seemed as surprised as he was.

"Fine! You win again! But one of these days I'm going to succeed in my goal to conquer the world, and that is a promise!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Your ultimate goal is to conquer the world? I should have known..." noted Jake.

Giovanni shrugged. It seemed as good of an evil plan as any...though admittedly he certainly wasn't the first to come up with that.

Giovanni and Domino immediately evacuated the Silph Co. as the Stun Spore inflicting Ned and Lucy finally began to wear off.

"You did it, Chris!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" bellowed Ned's Eevee. As it turns out, he had helped himself out of his Pokeball.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy.

"We managed to defeat Team Rocket again!" cheered Lucy.

"Yeah...I have to admit, you think that Team Rocket's going to start falling apart now that we've managed to defeat their leader twice?" asked Jake curiously.

"I would like to think so." nodded Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"He can battle me as many times as he wants...this time, I'm not going to underestimate him!" exclaimed Chris.

"Yeah...I would imagine so...sheesh, it only three out of four Pokemon for you to defeat him..." noted Ned.

"Yeah..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, the foursome began to leave the Silph Corporation...where they met up with Ash.

"What took you so long?" asked Chris.

"Sorry, I ended up bumping into my rival...he was rather arrogant and insisted on having a Pokemon battle with me even when I needed to defeat Team Rocket..." noted Ash.

"Yeah...I have a rival kind of like that..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"He sure sounds stubborn..." acknowledged Jake.

"Anyways, did you manage to defeat Team Rocket?" asked Ash.

"We sure did." nodded Lucy.

"Good. Hopefully they won't try to take my Pikachu for a while...I'm starting to hear there are other Pokemon Leagues besides the one in Kanto..." noted the male Pokemon trainer.

"Really?" asked Jake.

"Yeah...maybe if I do well enough in the Indigo Plateau Conference, I'll start heading to other regions...I'll have to visit my mother every now and then though...she'll get lonely..." explained Ash.

"Heh heh...yeah." nodded Ned.

"I'll see you later!" bellowed the Pokemon trainer.

With Ash Ketchum off to continue his Pokemon journey, our heroes decided that they should challenge Sabrina now that the Team Rocket Grunt in front of the Pokemon Gym was gone.

"Here's hoping that we're ready to battle psychics..." noted Jake.

_Hooray! Team Rocket's been defeated and Giovanni has fled for the hills! Hopefully Team Rocket won't lay a finger on them for a while...but their Pokemon journey still isn't over yet!_

_Curious to find out what's happening next? See you soon!_


	42. Chapter 42: Psychic Power

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_Welcome back, everyone! In this chapter...well, we're going to have a psychic showdown! Well, there's going to be psychic Pokemon, anyway._

_That's right...our heroes are facing Sabrina this time. Up to bat first is Ned...since you know, he's the smart guy here._

_Granted, Jake is fairly intelligent himself...but he's more of a cynic than a genius, I must admit. At least he seems to be more cheerful as of late though._

_I hope you enjoy the show!_

**Chapter 42: Psychic Power**

Ned and Chris stepped into the gym, eager to battle Sabrina.

"I heard that she has psychic powers..." noted Chris.

"That explains the sign we found outside the gym..." acknowledged Ned.

"That would explain a lot, wouldn't it?" inquired the tomboy.

"What did it say, again?" asked the boy.

"I believe it said "Mistress Of Psychic Pokemon". answered Chris.

"Oh...that makes sense." noted Ned.

Sure enough, she appeared to be twisting a spoon.

"This is almost too easy..." acknowledged Sabrina.

At that very moment, Ned and Chris approached her.

"Ah! I sensed that Pokemon trainers were coming..." noted the Gym Leader.

"You did?" inquired Ned.

"Yes, I did. I am a psychic, after all." answered the psychic.

"Right, of course..." nodded Chris.

"Anyways, I take it you're here for a gym battle?" asked Sabrina.

"Yes, I am." answered Ned.

"Alright then...I can already tell what Pokemon you're going to use..." said the Gym Leader.

"You must have read my mind!" exclaimed the boy.

"Yes, I did." nodded the psychic.

Sure enough, Ned sent out his Golem...which Sabrina had anticipated.

"Alright then...it's time for me to send out a Pokemon of my own, isn't it?" inquired the Gym Leader.

Ned nodded.

"Right, of course." nodded Sabrina.

Immediately, she sent out her Kadabra.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

"Doesn't Lucy have one of these?" inquired the boy.

"I believe she does." answered Chris.

"I might know how to deal with then..." noted Ned.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Sabrina's Kadabra was a fair bit stronger than Lucy's.

"Oh, that's right...it's a Gym Leader's Pokemon." acknowledged the boy.

Golem was being pummeled. Her special defenses weren't high, and Kadabra's psychic attacks were poweful.

Of course, Kadabra did not have high defenses, either...but its Recover ability was helping to compensate for that.

"Psychic!" exclaimed Sabrina.

Sabrina's Kadabra hit Golem with Psybeam, causing her to fall down on the floor.

"Uh-oh!" bellowed Ned.

She in fact didn't need to shout her commands in order for Kadabra to follow her instructions...but she didn't want to give herself an unfair advantage over her challengers.

"Maybe it's time to Selfdestruct..." noted the nerd.

Golem did just that...but unfortunately, she missed, as Kadabra saw it coming and quickly teleported away.

"Darn it!" bellowed Ned.

Kadabra was still standing.

"I guess it's time for me to send out Gyarados now..." noted the teenage boy.

"You have a Gyarados? I'm impressed...how did you tame him?" inquired Sabrina.

"Well, I did try to save his life as a Magikarp..." answered Ned.

"That was awfully nice of you..." acknowledged the Gym Leader.

She was starting to see why her opponent had five gym badges already.

This time, Ned was managing to turn the tables. Kadabra was very vulnerable to a physical assault...and Gyarados was pummeling him with Thrash.

Recover just wasn't doing him much good.

Eventually, Kadabra fainted, and Sabrina recalled her psychic pokemon.

"Well, it looks like we're tied. This time, I'm going to be sending out Mr. Mime. Are you ready?" asked Sabrina.

"A Mr. Mime?" inquired Ned.

"Are you surprised?" questioned the Gym Leader.

"I was expecting a Mr. Mime, actually..." answered the ten-year-old.

"OK then..." said Sabrina.

Immediately, she sent out a Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

Oddly enough, this Mr. Mime happened to be female.

"I didn't know that Mr. Mimes could be girls..." questioned Chris.

"Well, they can. I'm a bit surprised myself." noted Sabrina.

"Mr. Mime?" asked Mr. Mime curiously. Should she start calling herself Mrs. Mime?

Then again, she wasn't actually married. Maybe she should call herself Miss Mime? Ms. Mime? She wasn't sure.

Immediately, Mr (Mrs. Mime) began to set up a barrier to defend herself from attack.

"Maybe I should try scanning her with my Pokedex...it feels strange facing a female Mr. Mime..." noted Ned.

"I'm with you there." agreed Chris.

Immediately, Ned began to scan Mr. Mime with his Pokedex.

"Mr, Mime, the Barrier Pokemon. If interrupted while miming, it will slap the offender with its hands." explained Ned's Pokedex.

Sure enough, Gyarados was being slapped in the face.

"OK..." murmured the teenage boy. Personally he got the feeling that wasn't going to be enough to take down his Water Pokemon.

Gyarados thrashed Mr. Mime...but unfortunately she had set up a barrier to help protect herself from his attacks.

It looked like she was going to be able to take a few hits.

Unfortunately, Gyarados was beginning to wear down. He was having a hard time breaking through Mr. Mime's Barrier.

And to make matters worse, he had just gotten confused due to fatigue.

"Gyarados..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Immediately, he hit his head on the barrier, giving him a concussion. All of a sudden he was seeing three doppelgangers of Mr. Mime.

"Good, Mr. Mime...I wasn't quite sure that you had it in you to be honest. But apparently I was wrong to doubt you." noted Sabrina.

"Mr. Mime!" cheered the mime Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mime now had the opportunity to fight back.

And fight back she did, with a powerful Psybeam.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Mr. Mime had scored a critical hit. Sabrina immediately applauded her.

"Mr. Mime!" cheered the psychic Pokemon.

However, Gyarados was able to break her barrier shortly afterwards. He was just that strong.

"Well, I suppose you can't have everything." acknowledged the psychic gym leader.

Mr. Mime hit Gyarados with another Psybeam. At this point, he was beginning to feel quite weak.

"Hang on, Gyarados!" commanded Ned.

Gyarados tried to do so...but personally, he got the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to do so much longer.

There was only so much that even a Gyarados could take. After all, they were designed for offense, not for defense like Mr. Mime was.

However, Gyarados was able to hit Mr. Mime with Thrash, knocking her off her feet.

The water and flying Pokemon fainted shortly afterwards. He had fought hard...but he had lost in the end.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

This wasn't good. He had just lost one of his strongest Pokemon...he was going to have to pick up the pace if he wanted to defeat Sabrina.

"What to do..." thought the ten-year-old.

Shrugging, he decided that it was time to yet another fairly strong Pokemon. If he wanted to defeat Sabrina, he couldn't hold back.

"Go, Raichu!" exclaimed Ned.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"A Raichu? Not too bad...I actually faced a Pikachu not too long ago. I scanned his mind and noticed that he didn't want to evolve..." noted Sabrina.

Raichu shrugged. Apparently, evolution wasn't for every Pokemon. Personally he wondered if he should have waited a bit before he became a Raichu. Some of his Pikachu friends had told them that there were some moves a Raichu could only learn as a Pikachu.

"Raichu, use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Raichu immediately hit Mr. Mime with a surge of electricity. Unfortunately, her barrier techniques weren't going to protect her from that type of attack.

"Mr. Mime!" bellowed the mime Pokemon.

In fact, she appeared to have taken a nasty blow.

"Mr. Mime..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"Hold on!" exclaimed Sabrina.

Mr. Mime tried to hit Raichu with a Psybeam, but he didn't suffer a headache.

"Raichu." sighed Raichu in relief.

Raichu hit Mr. Mime with another Thunderbolt, and she fainted.

"I guess it's time for me to send out Venomoth..." noted Sabrina.

"But that isn't a psychic Pokemon..." questioned Ned.

"I know...but the Pokemon League's standards aren't that high." acknowledged the Gym Leader.

"OK..." answered the ten-year-old. Maybe he was going to have to change his strategy a bit.

"Go, Venomoth!" bellowed Sabrina.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed the moth Pokemon.

"It's a flying Pokemon...right?" asked Ned.

"Oddly enough, it is not...you can actually hit it with a ground-type attack..." answered Sabrina.

"That's weird..." noted the ten-year-old. What kind of flying Pokemon was vulnerable to a ground assault?

Apparently, he wasn't going to have a type advantage.

"That's a disappointment..." thought the boy.

He was going to have to make do without one.

"Thunderbolt, again..." murmured Ned.

Raichu attacked Venomoth with another surge of electricity...but unfortunately she was smart and moved out of the way.

"Darn it!" bellowed the ten-year-old.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed the moth Pokemon.

"Maybe I should scan it with my Pokedex..." thought Ned.

Curious, he began to do so.

"Venomoth, the Poison Moth Pokemon. The wings on its back are poisonous, and it spreads the poison every time it flies." explained the Pokedex.

"Uh-oh..." murmured the boy.

Sure enough, Venomoth was getting ready to poison Raichu.

"Look out!" exclaimed Ned.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon. All of a sudden he wasn't feeling too good.

Of course, being poisoned tended to make Pokemon feel that way. After all, it did tend to make them faint more often than not.

It wouldn't be too long before he would be down for the count. Just how long was Raichu going to last?

Shrugging, he decided to have Raichu use Agility. Hopefully he would be a lot faster that way...which he now was.

"Raichu!" cheered the electric Pokemon.

However, Venomoth was proving to be rather persistent. She wasn't the type of Pokemon to give up easily, it seemed.

Immediately, she started attacking Raichu like berserk.

"Venomoth! Veno veno veno!" bellowed the moth Pokemon.

"I didn't know that my Venomoth was this aggressive..." questioned Sabrina.

"Yeah..." agreed Ned.

Suddenly, she grabbed onto Raichu and started sucking the life out of him.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Uh-oh...looks like she's using Leech Life." noted Chris.

Sure enough, Venomoth was using that very technique.

"Venomoth!" bellowed the moth Pokemon.

Eventually, Raichu couldn't take it anymore...and he fainted.

"I've only got one Pokemon left..." said Ned.

"You had better make a good choice." acknowledged Sabrina.

"I'll use my starter, I suppose. It seems as good of a choice as any." shrugged the boy.

Immediately, he sent out his Eevee.

"Eevee!" bellowed the rabbit Pokemon.

"An Eevee, huh? I was under the impression that you would have evolved it by now..." questioned Sabrina.

"I would have...but my Eevee isn't interested in using evolutionary stones. He says that he wants to remain a Normal Pokemon forever..." answered Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon.

"That does remind me of that Pikachu I encountered earlier...what was the name of the Pokemon Trainer again? Cinder? Soot? Dust? I can't remember..." spoke Sabrina.

Oddly enough, Chris got the feeling who that Pokemon Trainer she had encountered earlier was...though she couldn't quite put a finger on it either.

"Now, just who was that?" inquired the teenage girl.

Now that she thought of it...hadn't she seen him back at Silph Co?

"Hmm..." pondered Chris.

Fortunately, Eevee was proving to be a difficult opponent for Venomoth...as she wasn't able to poison him.

"Venomoth..." murmured the moth Pokemon. Eevee was just too fast.

Eevee hit Venomoth with Take Down, causing her to faint.

"I'm glad that you know that technique now..." noted Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon. Granted, he couldn't use that technique without hurting himself...but personally he thought that it was worth it.

"Right...it's time for me to send out my trump card...Alakazam!" exclaimed Sabrina.

"Didn't you use a Kadabra against me earlier?" asked Ned.

"Well, that's true..." noted the Gym Leader.

"Why are you using two Pokemon from the same evolutionary line?" questioned the boy.

"I...don't quite know the answer to that myself." answered the psychic.

Ned shrugged.

"Go, Alakazam!" exclaimed Sabrina.

"Alakazam!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

"This is going to be tough..." noted Ned.

Shrugging, he scanned Alakazam with his Pokedex.

"Alakazam, the Psi Pokemon. It has an eidetic memory...and has the mind of a supercomputer." read the Pokedex.

"Wow...not even I'm that smart." questioned the ten-year-old. Part of him wished that he had that kind of intelligence.

Alakazam had the powerful psychic abilities to go with his extremely high intelligence. He immediately hit Eevee with a powerful Psychic.

"Eevee!" bellowed the rabbit Pokemon.

In retaliation, Eevee hit Alakazam with Take Down...only for him to use Recover in retaliation.

Not only had the damage been undone, but Eevee had gotten himself hurt for nothing.

"Oh no..." murmured the boy.

Alakazam hit Eevee with a Psychic...and then he was down for the count.

The two trainers then recalled their Pokemon.

"Well, it looks like you've lost. Don't worry, I'll let you try again. Have a nice day." said Sabrina.

Ned let out a sigh of relief.

"Why are you relieved? You just lost to a Gym Leader." questioned Chris.

"I was worried that she was going to trap me in a toybox or something..." answered Ned.

Sabrina sweatdropped.

'I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only psychic here..."

Chris shrugged.

Fortunately, Sabrina had stopped doing that to losing Pokemon trainers a long time ago. Why you ask? The Pokemon League were starting to complain about it. They said that they already had enough action figures on sale as it was.

"Right...it's my turn now..." said the teenage girl.

Immediately, Sabrina healed up her Pokemon.

"Alright then..." nodded the psychic.

Once again, she sent out her Kadabra.

In retaliation, Chris decided to send out her Gengar.

"Gengar!" bellowed the ghost Pokemon.

"Good luck defeating me now! Ghost Pokemon excel at defeating Psychic Pokemon!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

"Actually, there might be a problem with that particular Pokemon..." noted Sabrina.

"Huh?" asked Chris.

"You see...Gengar happens to be a ghost and a poison type..." explained the psychic.

"Hmm? Oh...that's right...poison Pokemon are weak against psychic Pokemon..." spoke Chris.

"This Pokemon battle is going to end quickly...the only question is whose going to faint first..." answered Sabrina.

Curious, Chris consulted Gengar to see if he had any powerful ghost-type techniques...which he did.

Immediately, he tossed a Shadow Ball...it hit Kadabra in the head and he fainted instantly.

"Wow! That was very impressive!" exclaimed Sabrina as she recalled her Kadabra. "I actually didn't see it coming...and I'm a psychic!"

Ned began to whistle.

Sabrina decided to send out her Mr. Mime next. Hopefully he would fare better.

"Hmm...Mr. Mime's defenses are rather high...I guess it's time to use Curse!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Gengar immediately cursed Mr. Mime...already she was starting to rapidly lose health.

Granted, Gengar had to sacrifice half of his health in the process...but Chris thought it was worth it in this situation.

"Mr. Mime..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. She wasn't going to last long like this. Gengar was one tough Pokemon.

Shrugging, she decided to fire a Psybeam at Gengar...

...right when he launched a Shadow Ball.

Oddly enough, this caused them both to faint simutaneously.

"A double knockout...how about that..." noted Chris.

"Again, I didn't see that coming..." answered Sabrina.

"Are you losing your psychic powers?!" exclaimed Ned.

"No no no. I think I still have them..." spoke the Gym Leader, bending a spoon with her hand.

Ned let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, it's time for me to send out my Venomoth now..." noted Sabrina.

"Alright then...I'll send out my Charmeleon!" exclaimed Chris.

"Charmeleon!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

Immediately, she noticed that she was up against a fire Pokemon...and began to feel rather nervous.

"Venomoth..." murmured the poison Pokemon.

And to make matters worse, it appeared that Charmeleon was evolving.

"Well, would you look at that..." said Chris.

Sure enough, Chris's Charmeleon had become a Charizard.

"Charizard!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Venomoth!" shrieked the moth Pokemon.

"Funny...I heard that you can tell how strong a Charizard is by how humble they are..." noted Sabrina.

Sure enough, Charizard didn't seem to be flexing his muscles.

"He seems humble enough..." noted Chris.

Unlike a certain other Pokemon Trainer's Charizard, Chris's Charizard was more than happy to listen to her. She did get him out of a bad situation after all.

Thankfully, he wasn't going to turn out like his old Pokemon Trainer, Jerry.

Charizard breathed fire on Venomoth, causing her to be burned.

"Venomoth..." murmured the bug Pokemon. Already, she was having difficulty flying.

Sabrina sighed. Maybe she should try switching out for her Alakazam.

"I guess it's time for me to switch..." noted Sabrina.

Immediately, she switched to her Alakazam.

"Clever girl..." whispered Chris.

Charizard shrugged. He did enjoy a challenge...even if he wasn't going to boast how strong he was to the other Charizards.

Personally, he was rather impressed with Alakazam's power himself, considering that he didn't have a very hard time taking down Ned's Eevee.

"Is there anything else you have other than Flamethrower? I would like to think that you could do more tricks now that you're a Charizard..." noted Chris.

"Charizard..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

Suddenly, he began to fly straight towards Alakazam.

Apparently, he was caught by surprise, because he was hit at full force.

"Alakazam!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

Unfortunately, his defense against physical attacks weren't too high. Why do you ask? Alakazams had very weak muscles...a stark contrast to another Pokemon that evolved through a Link Cable.

They had to rely on their psychic abilities to move their bodies...otherwise they would be a very slow Pokemon.

Sabrina had Alakazam use Recover to heal himself...

...only for Charizard to burn Alakazam with a Flamethrower.

"This isn't my battle, isn't it?" inquired Sabrina.

Charizard rubbed his hand behind his head out of modesty.

"That is one tough Charizard..." noted the Gym Leader.

Chris smirked in satisfaction.

Suddenly, Alakazam's eyes began to glow.

"Hmm?" inquired the teenage girl.

Oddly enough, nothing seemed to happen.

Shrugging, Chris decided to continue attacking Alakazam.

This time, Alakazam could not endure any more damage and he ended up fainting.

Sabrina sighed. It looked like she was back to using Venomoth...which she was full aware had a type disadvantage.

"Go, Venomoth!" bellowed the Gym Leader.

"Venomoth..." murmured the poison moth Pokemon, still feeling weak from her earlier encounter with Charizard.

"Well, I guess if you have to go down, you should go down fighting." noted Sabrina.

"Veno..." agreed the moth Pokemon.

Immediately, Venomoth poisoned Charizard.

"Charizard..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

However, Venomoth suffered burn damage in the process.

"Hit her with another Flamethrower!" commanded Chris.

Chris's Charizard happily did so.

However, at that very moment, Charizard was suddenly hit by a powerful psychic blast.

"What the-" exclaimed Chris.

Charizard ended up fainting.

"Darn it! I almost took down Venomoth!"

"Yeah...my Future Sight technique tends to catch my opponents by surprise...they never see it coming." noted Sabrina.

"They sure don't..." nodded Chris.

However, Venomoth ended up fainting from her burns shortly afterwards.

"Well, it looks I've lost...congratulations." spoke Sabrina.

Immediately, she handed Chris a Marsh Badge.

"What do marshes have to do with psychic Pokemon? That seems like something Koga would give me...he gave me a Soul Badge instead." noted Chris.

"Funny...I met Koga at a Gym Leader convention once...he suggested that I should give out Marsh Badges and he should give out Soul Badges...looking back I have to question that logic." acknowledged Sabrina.

"I also met his daughter...she was a cutie-pie..." spoke Ned.

Chris took away Ned's glasses.

"Hey!" exclaimed the ten-year-old.

"You and girls again..." murmured Chris.

"Is this supposed to make me unable to see them?" asked the nerd.

"Yes." answered the teenage girl.

Immediately, Ned ended up bumping into Sabrina.

"Whoops!" exclaimed the boy.

"Hey there..." murmured Sabrina.

In the process, she ended up dropping one of her Marsh Badges.

"Hmm?" asked Ned.

He was unable to recognize it.

Shrugging, Chris decided to give the glasses back to Ned.

"Um, I think you dropped this..." answered the ten-year-old.

"No, you can keep it..." murmured Sabrina.

"But I lost!" exclaimed Ned.

"I'm trying to atone for all those unfortunate Pokemon trainers I trapped in my toybox..." answered the Gym Leader.

"Why would you have a toy box? You're a young woman!" exclaimed Chris.

"I know...maybe I need to grow up..." spoke Sabrina.

Ned shrugged.

"Thanks for the Marsh Badge!" exclaimed the ten-year-old.

"You're welcome. The Pokemon League may not fully forgive me for that horrendous incident...but I would like to try." answered Sabrina.

Immediately, Ned and Chris exited the gym.

Curious, they noticed that there appeared to be a house nearby.

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake stepped out of the house.

"That was a very strange experience..." noted Lucy.

"It sure was." agreed Jake.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Seeing two Lucys made her head spin. Then again, she didn't actually have a neck. Her face was on her body.

She wasn't sure why the Pokemon in the sky had designed Clefairies that way...but apparently that was how mother nature worked.

"Hey there!" exclaimed Ned.

"Hey..." answered the twelve-year-old.

Curious, Ned decided to investigate the house for himself.

Sure enough, there happened to be a girl about his age inside the house.

"Sweet!" exclaimed the boy.

"Sweet!" bellowed the girl.

"Huh?" asked Ned.

As it turned out, she was known as Copycat.

"Huh?" inquired Copycat.

"You are so cute!" exclaimed the boy.

"You are so cute!" bellowed the girl.

"We're going to be the best friends in the history of ever!" shouted Ned.

"We're going to be the best friends in the history of ever!" squealed Copycat.

Immediately, they both began to sit next to each other.

"I'm glad I met you!" bellowed Ned.

"I'm glad I met you!" exclaimed Copycat.

At that very moment, Chris climbed up the stairs to Copycat's room.

"Ned, what is going on?" asked the teenage girl.

CUrious, she noticed that not only was Ned attracted to a pretty girl...the pretty girl actually seemed to like him back.

"Oh, heck no..." murmured Chris.

Immediately, she realized that she was going to have to do something...and fast.

"I know!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

This time, she decided to send out her Gengar.

"Hey, Gengar! I've got some people that I want you to scare!" bellowed Chris.

"Gengar!" smiled the ghost Pokemon.

Immediately, he terrified Ned and Copycat.

"Aah!" exclaimed the duo.

"That should teach them both..." murmured Chris.

Unfortunately, this caused them both to hug each other tightly.

Chris let out a sigh. This had backfired on her horribly.

"Well, I guess they're happy with each other...it looks like I'm going on my Pokemon journey solo from now on...then again, there are only two badges left..." noted the teenage girl.

However, at that very moment, Ned decided it was time to leave.

"I'll see you later!" exclaimed Ned.

"I'll see you later!" bellowed Copycat.

Chris let out a sigh of relief.

Immediately, she recalled her Gengar.

"So...where do you think the next gym is?" asked Chris.

"It's at Cinnabar Island, I believe..." answered Ned.

"Cinnabar Island, huh?" asked the teenage girl.

"I might not be able to defeat the Gym Leader though...I was lucky that Sabrina was still atoning for what she did to those poor Pokemon trainers..." spoke the ten-year-old.

"Do you...want to have another Pokemon battle?" inquired Chris.

"Sure!" exclaimed Ned.

Suddenly, Copycat stepped down the stairs.

Oddly enough, she was just dressed like Ned.

"Why are you dressed like Ned?" asked Chris.

"For some reason, I like crossdressing..." answered Copycat.

"Funny...that's what I did when I wanted to battle Erika..." noted Ned.

Copycat began to giggle.

Immediately, she began to dress up as Chris next.

"Hey! Don't steal my identity!" bellowed Chris.

"Sorry..." apologized Copycat.

"Wow! Look at you!" exclaimed Ned.

Once again, Copycat began to giggle.

"I've got a present for you!" bellowed the crossdresser.

"Hmm?" asked Ned.

"I noticed that youhad an Eevee...so I figured you would want this..." said the girl.

"Thanks...but my Eevee doesn't want to evolve..." answered the boy.

"Really? Well, I still want you to have this..." explained Copycat.

Immediately, she handed Ned a Fire Stone.

"Funny, I think there's another Pokemon I have that can use a Fire Stone..." noted the boy.

Suddenly, Growlithe came out of his Pokeball.

"Aah! Would you look at that!" exclaimed Ned.

"Growlithe!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Apparently, he wanted to use the Fire Stone.

"Alright then..." nodded Ned.

Immediately, he handed the Fire Stone to Growlithe.

Sure enough, he began to evolve.

"Arcanine!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Well, that should make battling a bit easier..." noted Chris.

Arcanine nodded.

Ned scanned Arcanine with his Pokedex.

"Arcanine, the Legendary Pokemon." read the Pokedex.

"Wait, Arcanine is a legendary Pokemon?!" exclaimed Ned.

"Well, not in the traditional sense." answered Chris.

"Oh." spoke the ten year old.

"A Pokemon that has been admired for its beauty. It runs as if its legs were on wings."

"Your legs don't actually have wings, right? I don't think you're a flying type..." noted Ned.

Arcanine shook his head.

"Goodbye!" exclaimed Copycat.

Ned and Chris immediately left Copycat's house.

"Right then...it's time for our battle now..." noted the teenage girl.

"I'm looking for it...though admittedly I already did receive an upgrade before then...I might be able to take on the next Gym Leader now..." acknowledged Ned.

"True..." agreed Chris.

Immediately, they began to send out their Pokemon.

_Meanwhile..._

"You think I can win?" asked Lucy.

"If you try hard enough, you can." answered Jake.

"Here goes nothing." spoke the eleven-year-old.

Taking a deep breath, she and Clefairy entered the gym.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

It was going to be a big battle.

In fact, it was probably going to be their biggest Gym Battle yet...

...and they were both looking forward to it.

_Happy Christmas Eve!_

_In the next chapter, Ned and Chris are going to battle...again! Whose going to win this time? Let's find out..._


	43. Chapter 43: Brain vs Brawn

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going to try battling Sabrina while Chris and Ned try battling each other...you're looking forward to that, right?_

**Chapter 43: Brain vs. Brawn**

Ned sent out his new Arcanine, desiring to test it out on his partner.

"So, you're using your new Arcanine against me...go figure." answered Chris.

In retaliation, she decided to send out her Gengar.

"Gengar, let's do this!" exclaimed the teenage girl.

"Gengar!" bellowed the ghost Pokemon.

Ned began to feel rather nervous. Gengar terrified him even as a Gastly.

Nonetheless, he decided that he wanted to be a man...even if Chris wasn't going to be a woman.

"Arcanine! Flamethrower!" bellowed Ned.

Arcanine immediately roasted Gengar with a Flamethrower attack.

"Gengar!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.

"Well, that was rather spicy." noted Chris.

In retaliation, she had Gengar use Shadow Ball on Arcanine.

However, he was quick enough to evade it.

"That is one fast fire Pokemon..." acknowledged the hotblooded Pokemon Trainer.

"I know..." nodded Ned. Who would have thought that simply using an evolutionary stone would make Growlithe so fast?

Shrugging, he decided to try using Flamethrower on Gengar again. This time, he ended up getting burned.

"Gengar!" screeched the ghost Pokemon.

"I didn't know that shadows could burn..." questioned Chris.

She didn't understand that kind of logic.

Unfortunately, Gengar was taking quite a beating.

"I guess you might as well use Curse..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

Gengar did so, but he ended up fainting in the process.

Arcanine was now taking periodic damage...but he had already done enough as it was.

"Right...maybe it's time for me to send out my Onix." noted Chris.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock snake Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"I guess I'll use my Gyarados next then." thought Ned.

Unfortunately, Arcanine's Flamethrower certainly wasn't going to hurt Onix as much as it hurt Gengar. He wasn't cut out to fight against rock types.

Shrugging, he decided to use Bite...in theory biting into a rock wasn't such a good idea...but his guide to Pokemon battling did say that Onix wouldn't be able to resist it.

"Arcanine, use Bite!" exclaimed Ned.

Arcanine bit into Onix, causing it to bellow.

However, he buried Arcanine in a Rock Slide in retaliation.

"Arcanine..." murmured the fire Pokemon. That really hurt.

"Well, looks like I might be able to turn the tables now..." noted Chris.

"We'll see about that." answered Ned.

Sure enough, Arcanine was getting up back to his feet...albeit rather slowly.

"Hang in there, boy!" exclaimed his Pokemon trainer.

Once again, Ned had Arcanine bite into Onix.

Unfortunately, Onix hit Arcanine with an Earthquake...and then he was gone.

"Well, you did good while you were still out on the field..." noted Ned.

Immediately, he recalled his Arcanine and prepared another Pokemon to defeat Onix.

"Go, Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

"Gyarados!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"Onix..." murmured the rock snake Pokemon. All of a sudden, he was not liking his chances.

And to make matters worse, Gyarados got to go first.

"Use Surf!" bellowed Ned.

Immediately, Gyarados hit Onix with a Surf...and then he was down for the count.

Chris let out a sigh.

"Sheesh...you're really doing a number on my Pokemon today." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yeah...I know." nodded Ned.

"You sure have gotten stronger..." acknowledged Chris.

"I guess I have..." answered Ned, rubbing his hand across his head.

"Right then...what Pokemon should I use to take down your Gyarados..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, she began to think of a plan.

"Hmm..." pondered Chris.

Shrugging, she decided to send out her Nidoking.

"Go, Nidoking!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Nidoking!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"You do realize that ground type attacks won't hurt Gyarados, right?" asked Ned.

"Well, that's true..." nodded Chris.

On the other hand, Gyarados were as vulnerable to poison as most other Pokemon despite their massive size.

"I'll see if I can poison it..." said the teenage girl.

Immediately, Chris had Nidoking pierce Gyarados with his horn, which seemed to do the trick.

"Gyarados..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that Nidoking was part ground type, it was vulnerable to Gyarados' water attacks.

"Darn it! How did I forget about that?" asked Chris.

Maybe she should have picked a better choice in Pokemon.

"Nidoking!" bellowed the poison and ground Pokemon.

Chris sighed. She really needed to rethink her strategies.

Then again, she wasn't much of a strategist in the first place. She just liked overpowering her opponents with sheer power alone.

However, she got the feeling she wasn't going to be able to do so this time.

"Darn it..." murmured the teenage girl.

Shrugging, she decided to have Nidoking to use Horn Drill and hope that worked.

Surprisingly enough, it did.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed the water Pokemon as he fainted instantly.

"Darn it! I got really unlucky..." noted Ned.

"Yeah..." agreed Chris.

Sighing, Ned decided it was time to send out another Pokemon.

Shrugging, he decided to send out his Venonat.

"Venonat!" exclaimed the bug Pokemon.

"Hopefully his enormous eyes will alert him if you try doing that again..." shrugged Ned.

Sure enough, Venonat appeared to be a rather observant Pokemon.

Curious, Chris tried using Horn Drill again.

Venonat immediately leapt out of the way.

"He's fast..." noted Chris.

"Yeah..." agreed Ned. Then again, so was his Arcanine.

In retaliation, Venonat hit Nidoking with a Psybeam.

"Nidoking!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

"It knows psychic attacks? Darn it!" exclaimed Chris.

This did not look too good for Nidoking.

"Earthquake!" bellowed the teenage girl.

Unfortunately, Venonat was smart and began to jump up and down to avoid the attack. It missed him completely.

"Aren't you clever..." remarked Ned.

Venonat hit Nidoking with another Psybeam, and he fainted.

Chris let out a sigh. She had lost half of her Pokemon...and therefore she was running out of options.

"Alright...this time you're finished!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, she sent out Charizard.

"Charizard!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned.

Charizard hit Venonat with a Flamethrower, and he fainted on the spot.

"Well then..." said Ned.

Knowing that Charizard happened to be a flying type, he decided to send out his Raichu.

"Let's do this!" bellowed Ned.

"Rai!" exclaimed Raichu.

Immediately, Raichu hit Charizard with a Thunderbolt.

"Charizard!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. That really hurt.

In retaliation, Charizard attacked Raichu with Flamethrower.

However, he was smart and leapt out of the way.

Chris groaned. Raichu was a difficult opponent.

Raichu hit Charizard with another Thunderbolt, and paralyzed him.

This time, he was unable to move.

"Oh, c'mon!" bellowed Chris.

Raichu hit Charizard with another Thunderbolt, and he fainted.

"Just two Pokemon left..." murmured the tomboy.

Immediately, she decided to send out her Parasect.

"Alright...let's do this..." said Chris.

"Parasect!" exclaimed Parasect.

"Hmm..." thought Ned.

Due to the fact that Parasect was a grass type, electric attacks weren't going to hurt him too much.

He was going to have to try attacking in a different way.

Of course, he was aware of how weak Parasect were against fire and flying attacks...and wondered if he should have saved his Arcanine for later.

"Hmm..." thought Ned.

Shrugging, he decided to keep using Raichu for the time being and hope that worked.

Unfortunately, Parasect hit Raichu with Spore, causing him to fall asleep.

"Oh no! Wake up!" ordered the boy.

To make matters worse, Raichu appeared to be somewhat of a heavy sleeper.

"Rai...chu..." murmured Raichu in his sleep.

Ned sighed. Raichu was a sitting Psyduck while he was asleep.

Sure enough, Parasect was getting ready for an assault.

Immediately, he began to drain the life out of Raichu.

Surprisingly, he was still asleep.

Ned let out a sigh. It looked like Raichu was going to faint. After all, there was no way for him to attack.

Unless he woke up, he was going down.

"Keep on doing that!" exclaimed Chris.

"Parasect!" nodded the bug Pokemon. This battle seemed to be working out for him.

However, he noticed that Raichu was beginning to yawn, and that therefore he was going to wake up soon.

He needed to hurry.

Once again, Parasect used Giga Drain.

However, Raichu managed to wake up shortly afterwards.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon. He was still feeling a bit sleepy.

Next time, he should try not to inhale Parasect's Spores. Then again, they weren't easily noticable considering how small they were.

Maybe he should just keep his mouth shut? He couldn't say anything other than his name anyway.

He never understood why Pokemon could never saying anything other than their own names. It confused him.

Of course, there were some Pokemon that could speak human, but he didn't happen to be one of them.

It would be nice if he could meet a Pokemon like that for a change.

Knowing that Parasect would be able to resist Raichu's Thunderbolts, Ned realized that he was going to have to try a different tactic.

"What to do..." thought Ned.

Shrugging, he had Raichu used Quick Attack.

"Parasect!" exclaimed the mushroom Pokemon.

As it turned out, he had gotten a critical hit...due to how fast he was.

"Very good." applauded Ned.

"Darn it." murmured Chris.

Immediately, Chris ordered Parasect to use Spore again...but this time Raichu didn't inhale the spores.

Apparently, he had learned his lesson from last time.

Raichu hit Parasect with a Quick Attack once again, and he fainted.

"Darn it! Now I'm going to have to use my Jigglypuff..." noted Chris.

Once again, it looked like it was up to her starter Pokemon.

"Right...I'm sure she can do this." said the female Pokemon trainer.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

"It's two against one...this shouldn't be too hard, right?" asked Ned.

Unfortunately for Ned, Jigglypuff successfully managed to put Raichu to sleep with Sing.

"Darn it!" bellowed the boy.

"I guess this isn't working out for you..." noted Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Once again, Raichu was vulnerable to attack...and Jigglypuff wasn't going to hold back. At all.

"Body Slam!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jigglypuff inflated herself and slammed into Raichu, causing him to topple over.

"Not good." thought Ned.

Jigglypuff then followed into rolling into Raichu.

"This is bad." murmured the boy.

Jigglypuff did so again, and Raichu fainted.

"Why does Raichu have to be such a sleepyhead?" questioned Ned.

Chris shrugged.

Personally he wondered if he needed to find a way to make him stay awake.

Immediately, he sent out his Golem...

...or rather, he would have, if they weren't something wrong with her Pokeball.

"Why isn't this working?" asked Ned.

"We might need to contact the Poke Mart..." noted Chris.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Ned's Golem was stuck inside her Pokeball for the time being.

"I didn't know that could happen..." questioned the tomboy. Hopefully that wouldn't end up happening to her.

Sighing, Ned decided it was time to send out his Eevee.

"Go, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

"Eevee!" cheered the rabbit Pokemon.

"And it's starter against starter..." stated Chris.

"Yeah..." nodded Ned.

Once again, Jigglypuff began to Sing, but Eevee covered his ears.

Ned let out a sigh of relief, not wanting to fall to the same attack again. Eevee would not listen to Jigglypuff's lullabies.

Eevee hit Jigglypuff with Take Down, causing her to deflate and fly across the city.

"Jigglypuff! Come back!" exclaimed Chris.

Jigglypuff quickly reinflated herself, and bounced back towards Chris.

"Thank goodness...I was worried that I lost you for a second." spoke the female Pokemon trainer.

"Jiggly!" cheered the balloon Pokemon. Being similar to a balloon had its disadvantages, but at least she wouldn't have to be separated from Chris.

Jigglypuff hit Eevee with a Body Slam, knocking him off his feet.

"Hang on!" exclaimed Ned.

In retaliation, Eevee hit Jigglypuff with a new technique it had learned...Double-Edge.

"Eevee!" bellowed the rabbit Pokemon.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

Curious, Chris and Ned took a closer look...

...and discovered that their battle had ended in a draw.

"Well, would you look at that..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"That was rather surprising." acknowledged Ned.

"Yes...it was." agreed Chris.

Immediately, they recalled their starter Pokemon and went to the Pokemon Center.

"Are you going to flirt with me?" asked Nurse Joy.

Ned began to blush.

"Why do you ask?" inquired the boy.

"You do seem to have a crush on my sisters..." answered the nurse.

"Yeah...I do." nodded Ned.

"Why do you Nurse Joys all look the same anyway?" asked Chris.

"We know a good plastic surgeon..." explained Nurse Joy.

"OK..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Of course, nowadays we have a Doctor Joy..." spoke the nurse.

"You have a brother now?" asked Chris.

"Yes...our mother was rather surprised." explained Nurse Joy.

"I bet she was." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, Doctor Joy made his appearance. Much like his many sisters, he happened to have pink hair...and people kept joking about it. He wondered if he should try dyeing his hair blue.

Oddly enough, despite not being the same gender, he greatly resembled his sisters. He just happened to have shorter hair and was wearing a slightly different outfit.

"It feels so awkward being the only boy in a group of girls..." noted Doctor Joy.

Immediately, Chris began to flirt with him.

"Oh my gosh...you are the best doctor ever..." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Ned was not amused.

On cue, he grabbed onto Chris's ear and began to drag her away.

"I know I'm probably being a giant hypocrite...but I can't let you flirt with him like this...you're not the same age as him..." explained Ned.

He promptly dragged her out of the Pokemon Center.

_Meanwhile at the Pokemon Gym..._

"So...are you ready to battle?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I am." nodded Sabrina.

"Alright then. Go, Kadabra!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psi Pokemon.

"Funny...I happen to have a Kadabra too." noted the psychic.

"Really?" asked Lucy.

"If you want I could give you a link cable to help evolve your Kadabra...I'm still trying to atone for the time I trapped Pokemon trainers in my toybox..." explained Sabrina.

"I used to have a toybox when I was little..." noted the wealthy girl.

"I'm not sure why I kept playing with it..." acknowledged the Gym Leader.

"Me neither." nodded Jake.

"I even trapped my mother in there..." answered Sabrina.

Jake let out a sigh. How he missed his mother.

Immediately, Sabrina handed Lucy a link cable.

Using the link cable on her Kadabra, he began to evolve into an Alakazam.

"Er, what happened to your tail? And where did you get that extra spoon?" asked Lucy.

Alakazam explained that once a Kadabra evolved, they no longer needed a tail...and that he found a spoon lying on the table nearby.

"Oh...OK." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Sabrina sent out her Kadabra...who didn't seem too happy about having to face his evolution.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. Why couldn't his Pokemon trainer evolve him like she had done with her other Kadabra?

Personally he wished that Sabrina hadn't handed her opponent that Link Cable and used it on him instead...though he did admit that it was rather nice of her to want to make up for the things she did to losing Pokemon Trainers.

He remembered the time where she forced a Pokemon Trainer to dress up as a woman...he nearly died of embarrassment.

Immediately, Kadabra and Alakazam got into a mind duel...but since Alakazam was the smarter of the two, he was coming out on top.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

"Focus!" exclaimed Sabrina.

Kadabra nodded, and began trying to relax.

However, he was still having a hard time.

"Maybe I should evolve you..." noted Sabrina.

"Kadabra..." complained the psychic Pokemon.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed Alakazam.

Eventually, Kadabra lost concentration, and he ended up fainting.

"Well, so far so good." said Lucy.

"Right...let's try a different Pokemon now, shall we?" inquired Sabrina.

"Yes, of course." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Sabrina sent out her Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed Mr. Mime.

"If your Mr. Mime is a female, then shouldn't she be Miss Mime?" asked Lucy.

"How many Pokemon trainers have asked me that..." answered Sabrina.

Mr. Mime scratched her head. This was a really confusing name for her, wasn't it?

Immediately, she began to set up a Light Screen to protect herself from Alakazam's psychic attacks.

"That's one smart Pokemon...then again it is a psychic." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." agreed Lucy.

Unfortunately, this meant that Alakazam couldn't do much damage with his attacks, and Mr. Mime was free to retaliate in return.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon.

Immediately, she began to slap Alakazam into submission.

"Alakazam!" bellowed Alakazam. Unfortunately, Alakazams did not have high physical defenses...as they specialized in special attack.

"You look bruised...maybe you should try healing yourself." suggested Lucy.

Alakazam nodded, and began to use Recover in order to heal himself.

"Is that better?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Alakazam nodded. Of course, Mr. Mime was probably going to just attack him again...

...which she did.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon. This time, Mr. Mime had hit him a whopping five times.

"Oh no!" bellowed Lucy.

In retaliation, Lucy had Alakazam attack with Psybeam...but unfortunately, this didn't hurt Mr. Mime much.

Lucy let out a sigh.

Mr. Mime hit Alakazam with yet another Doubleslap, and he fainted.

"I'm going to need a Pokemon that can break through her defenses..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she began to think of a Pokemon to send.

"Hmm..." thought the female Pokemon trainer.

She decided to send out her Pidgeot. That seemed as good of an option as any.

"Go, Pidgeot!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"I had this bird Pokemon since I was a Pidgey." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"Did you now?" inquired Sabrina.

"Yes." nodded Lucy.

"That's sweet..." noted the female Pokemon trainer.

"In fact, she was the second Pokemon I ever caught." explained the eleven-year-old.

"Interesting..." answered Sabrina.

"Of course, the first Pokemon I ever caught was my Clefairy." said Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"I take it you're saving her for last?" asked Sabrina.

"Yes, I am." nodded Lucy.

"Clef!" bellowed Clefairy.

"Well, I know what Pokemon I'm saving for last..." noted the female Gym Leader.

"Is it your starter?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yes...I had him since he was an Abra." explained Sabrina.

"Alright then." nodded Lucy.

Immediately, Pidgeot hit Mr. Mime with her wings.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the mime Pokemon. As she had just found out, Pidgeot was one tough bird.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

She was starting to feel rather nervous. Could she handle the flying type?

Unfortunately, it appeared that Pidgeot was raising her agility.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

Mr. Mime was now starting to feel really worried. Would she be able to set up a Reflect in time?

As it turned out, she did not set it up on time.

"Mr. Mime!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

Pidgeot got a critical hit...and Mr. Mime fainted.

"Well, I still have two Pokemon left...I probably shouldn't send out my Venomoth though..." noted Sabrina.

"I thought you were going to save your Alakazam for last." questioned Lucy.

"Well, that was before I realized that you were going to send out a flying type..." answered the psychic.

"Oh yeah..." acknowledged the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Sabrina sent out her Alakazam.

"Go, Alakazam!" exclaimed the Gym Leader.

"I suppose she wouldn't be a psychic Pokemon trainer if she wasn't smart." noted Jake. Personally he wondered if he should try switching out Pokemon if he ever found himself in a bad situation.

That seemed like a good idea.

"Right...you can do this. I think." answered Lucy.

Immediately, Pidgeot hit Alakazam with a Wing Attack...

...only for him to Recover himself.

"Darn it." thought Lucy.

This was then followed by Alakazam hitting Pidgeot with Psychic.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed the flying Pokemon.

"That Alakazam is tough..." noted Jake.

Hopefully Lucy would be able to pull through.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Pidgeot really wasn't a match for Alakazam's ferocious psychic power, and she was getting rocked out of her mind.

"Pidgeot..." murmured the bird Pokemon. Something told her that she was going to have a monster headache after her battle with Alakazam.

Then again, fighting psychic Pokemon usually did that, especially for fighting types.

Pidgeot hit Alakazam with another Wing Attack, which actually knocked one of the spoons out of his hand.

However, he picked it up shortly afterwards.

Lucy sighed. This battle just wasn't working out for her.

Alakazam hit Pidgeot with yet another Psychic, and she fainted.

Sabrina then switched out Alakazam with her Venomoth.

"Alright then...I'll use Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy.

"You do realize that if you do that I'm just going to switch out for my Alakazam again, right?" asked Sabrina.

"Hmm...you're right...unless." pondered the girl.

Suddenly, she got an idea.

"Go, Vulpix!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Vulpix!" bellowed Lucy's Vulpix.

"Well, don't see that I didn't warn you. Return, Veno-"

"Fire Spin!" bellowed Lucy.

Vulpix trapped Venomoth using Fire Spin, thus preventing Sabrina from switching out.

"You are so clever..." remarked Sabrina.

Suffice to say, she was in a bad situation this time.

Vulpix then followed by using Flamethrower, burning Venomoth and doing enormous damage. Apparently, she had scored a critical hit.

"Sheesh." murmured the psychic.

Venomoth hit Vulpix with a Psybeam...but since her defense against special attacks was high, this didn't hurt her too much.

Vulpix hit Venomoth with Flamethrower, and then she was down for the count.

"Huh. Makes me wish I picked out a strategy like that." answered Sabrina.

Immediately, she recalled her fainted Pokemon and sent out her Alakazam once more.

"Right then...let's see if you can handle this..." said the female Pokemon trainer.

Alakazam twisted his spoon, and all of a sudden, Vulpix found herself confused.

"Hmm...if I attack now, Vulpix might hurt herself. Maybe it's time for me to switch out like Sabrina did." noted Lucy.

Immediately, she recalled her Vulpix and sent out her Clefairy.

"Not bad...but now I have an opportunity to attack." answered Sabrina.

Alakazam hit Clefairy with a powerful Psychic.

Thankfully, since Clefairy was a very smart Pokemon (though not smart enough to not crash her spaceship), this didn't hurt her much.

In retaliation, she went up to Alakazam...

...and took his spoons.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon in surprise.

Unfortunately, without his spoons, there wasn't much he could do to attack or defend, as he needed them to focus his psychic energies.

In other words, he was a sitting Psyduck.

"Clefairy!" cheered the fairy Pokemon.

"Well, this doesn't bode well." noted Sabrina.

Clefairy then followed with a Metronome, which resulted in Alakazam being hit by a Hyper Beam.

"Wow." said the gym leader.

Alakazam fainted, and Lucy had achieved victory.

"Well, congratulations...you probably couldn't have pulled it off if I didn't give you that Link Cable though." noted Sabrina.

"Probably not." acknowledged Lucy.

"No matter. Here is your Marsh Badge. Hopefully you'll get to become a psychic someday." spoke the female Gym Leader.

"Well, I can understand my Clefairy pretty well even though she only says her own name." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"See? Right now she's happy that we have six badges." noted Lucy.

Clefairy nodded.

"Yeah...I have a connection to my Pokemon like that." acknowledged Sabrina.

"So...I'm next, right?" inquired Jake.

"Yes, you are." nodded the Gym Leader.

Immediately, Sabrina began to patch up her Pokemon.

"Alright then...go, Kadabra!" exclaimed the psychic.

"Kadabra!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

"I probably don't want to use my Grimer." noted Jake.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Lucy.

After all, poison Pokemon were weak against psychic types.

"I guess I'll just have to try something else." acknowledged the Pokemon Trainer.

Now that he thought of it...what exactly did he have that was good against psychics?

"Hmm..." pondered Jake.

Shrugging, he decided to send out his starter Pokemon...or rather, his traditional starter Pokemon.

"Let's do this!" exclaimed the preteen Pokemon.

"Blastoise!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"A Blastoise, huh? Not too shabby." acknowledged Sabrina.

"Yeah...she's come a long way since she was just a Squirtle." noted Jake.

"I guess so..." agreed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the tortoise Pokemon. It's true, she had. In fact, the Squirtles would probably be jealous of her now. Personally she felt that she had evolved rather quickly, though it was probably just her imagination.

"Use Surf!" ordered Jake.

Blastoise hit Kadabra with a Surf, causing him to nearly drop his spoon in surprise.

"Yeah...you probably weren't expecting an enormous tidal wave of water, were you?" asked the male Pokemon trainer.

"Kadabra." nodded the psychic Pokemon.

"Well, to be fair, you are facing a water type." noted Jake.

Kadabra scratched his head. Surely as a psychic type he would be able to remember that...but he wasn't as smart as an Alakazam. He in fact had lost to one about fifteen minutes ago.

In retaliation, Kadabra hit Blastoise with Psybeam.

However, she was able to endure the hit by tucking into her shell.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon sadly. Blastoise sure was making his efforts futile.

Once again, Blastoise hit Kadabra with another Surf.

Realizing that he was taking quite a beating, Sabrina instructed Kadabra to Recover.

"Kadabra..." murmured the psychic Pokemon happily, eager to recover his injuries.

Unfortunately, Blastoise hit Kadabra with Surf again. This time she scored a critical hit and he ended up fainting.

"That is one tough turtle." noted Sabrina.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Jake.

Immediately, Blastoise prepared her cannons for another assault.

"And she's ready for more action." noted the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Sheesh." answered the psychic.

This time, Sabrina sent out her Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the mime Pokemon.

"Hmm...you're going to need to shoot pretty hard if you want to get past that barrier." acknowledged Jake.

Blastoise nodded. She should hit Mr. Mime with everything she had.

Mr. Mime set up a Barrier to protect herself from Blastoise's attacks.

Unfortunately, Barrier did not protect her from special attacks.

"How did I forget that?" asked Sabrina.

Blastoise hit Mr. Mime with a Surf, causing the barrier to shatter.

"Mr. Mime..." murmured the mime Pokemon. Maybe she should have tried using Light Screen instead.

In retaliation, Mr. Mime tried slapping Blastoise silly...

...but since Blastoise tucked into her shell, this was rendered futile.

"Mr. Mime..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. She just couldn't win here.

Blastoise then untucked from her shell, and hit Mr. Mime with another Surf.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon.

"I'm getting clobbered out here." noted Sabrina.

In retaliation, she had Mr. Mime use Psybeam, causing Blastoise to feel rather dizzy.

"Blastoise..." murmured the water Pokemon.

Sighing, Jake decided it was time to recall his traditional starter Pokemon.

It was a shame that he had to do so considering how well she had done so far...but all good things had to come to an end.

"Let's see...what should I send out next?" inquired the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Immediately, he began to think of a Pokemon.

"I know! I'll send out Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

"Marowak!" bellowed the bone Pokemon as he was sent out from his Pokeball.

"You do realize that Marowaks rely on physical attacks to do damage, right?" asked Sabrina.

"I can always switch out if I get in trouble...besides, I don't think your Alakazam's physical defenses are high." noted Jake.

"Well, that's true..." acknowledged the Gym Leader.

Immediately, Jake instructed Marowak to use Bone Club. Sure enough, he whacked Mr. Mime on the head.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon, rubbing her head.

Unfortunately, being hit on the head gave her a headache...which was particularly bad for psychic Pokemon.

"Mr. Mime..." murmured the mime Pokemon. It looked like she was once again in a spot of trouble.

She tried to use Psybeam...but her head hurt too much.

"Mime..." said the psychic Pokemon sadly.

This of course gave Marowak another opportunity to attack...and this time, she got a critical hit.

As she was still weakened from her battle with Blastoise, she ended up fainting.

"Dang! This is a difficult Gym Battle..." acknowledged Sabrina.

"I guess so." nodded Jake.

"There's got to be way for me to turn this around." thought the Gym Leader.

Shrugging, she decided to send out Venomoth. If only she wasn't vulnerable to ground attacks like all the other Pokemon with wings.

"Go. Venomoth!" exclaimed Sabrina.

"Venomoth!" bellowed the moth Pokemon.

"This isn't a flying type, right? I'm confused..." answered Jake.

"I know...and yes, it's a bug and poison type." explained the female Pokemon trainer.

"Alright then." nodded the twelve-year-old.

Immediately, he had Marowak hit Venomoth with a Bone Club, who was beginning to wish that she was a flying type rather than a poison type.

On the other hand, it was rather interesting that she got to keep her current type coverage when she evolved from a Venonat. Not all Pokemon got to do so. Evolution affected some Pokemon more than others.

In retaliation, Venomoth decided to use Supersonic.

Realizing that his Pokemon were being confused once more, Jake decided to switch out with his Blastoise.

"Go, Blastoise!" exclaimed Jake.

"Blastoise!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

Immediately, Venomoth hit Blastoise with a rather sudden Gust of wind.

Unfortunately, this caused Blastoise fall on her back...and she was unable to get back up.

"Uh-oh..." thought Jake.

Venomoth then followed up by using Psybeam.

"Blastoise..." murmured the water Pokemon. Sometimes she wished that she didn't have that heavy shell on her back.

Then again, she did need that for her protection.

"Maybe you should try rolling over?" asked Jake.

Curious, Blastoise began to do so...

...only to be hit by a Psybeam to the head.

Blastoise fainted.

"Well, you put up a pretty decent fight, so I'll give you an A for effort." said Jake.

"Blastoise..." smiled the tortoise Pokemon as she was recalled.

"I guess it's back to using Marowak." noted Jake.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon.

Venomoth sighed. Not Marowak again.

Then again, she did manage to defeat the ferocious Blastoise that had of course been a serious threat to Sabrina's Pokemon team, so maybe she shouldn't complain.

"Venomoth, Leech Life!" exclaimed Sabrina.

Venomoth nodded, and began to suck the life out of Marowak.

"Marowak..." murmured the ground Pokemon. Having the life taken out of him didn't make him feel good at all.

"Attack!" ordered Jake.

Marowak nodded. Immediately, he began to Thrash Venomoth.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed the moth Pokemon.

"Marowak is rather aggressive..." noted Sabrina.

"Well, good to see that you're not holding back." acknowledged Jake. It was always nice when his Pokemon knew new techniques...though they always seemed to forget old ones.

Immediately, Venomoth began to fly around the arena, hoping to avoid being hit by Marowak.

"Hmm...looks like she won't hold still." noted Jake.

Unfortunately, Marowak couldn't reach.

"Marowak..." pouted the bone Pokemon.

He got confused shortly afterwards.

"Uh-oh..." thought Jake. This did not bode well.

Immediately, Marowak hit himself on the head with his bone. Really hard.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the bone Pokemon.

He collapsed on the floor.

"Sheesh! Your Venomoth is having a field today." noted Jake.

"She sure is." answered Sabrina.

"Venomoth!" cheered the moth Pokemon.

Venomoth hit Marowak with Psybeam, and then he was unconscious.

Sighing, Jake decided that he needed to send out the big guns.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed the male Pokemon trainer.

"You do realize that Golbats are poison-type, right?" asked Sabrina.

"Yes...I know. However, your Venomoth happens to be bug type, so Golbat can hurt her with flying attacks." explained Jake.

"Oh, right...how did I forget that?" inquired the female Gym Leader.

Jake shrugged.

"I guess I'll have to wrap this up quickly then." noted Sabrina.

However, Jake's Golbat was already attacking.

"Wing Attack!" bellowed Jake.

Jake's Golbat hit Venomoth with Wing Attack, causing her to fall on the ground.

"Venomoth!" exclaimed the moth Pokemon. That really hurt.

Venomoth hit Golbat with Psybeam in retaliation.

"Golbat!" exclaimed Golbat. Thankfully, Golbats had fairly decent special defense, so it didn't hurt that much.

Of course, it also helped that Venomoths weren't actually psychic types, meaning it didn't do as much damage as it could have.

Golbat hit Venomoth with another Wing Attack, and she fainted.

"Just one more to go...I can handle it, right?" asked Jake.

"I think you can." nodded Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

Sabrina sent out her Alakazam next.

"Right...use Psychic, why don't you?" inquired Sabrina.

Alakazam nodded, and hit Golbat in the face.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon. That attack had nearly made him faint.

"Try using Bite." suggested Jake.

Golbat sank his teeth into Alakazam, giving him a headache.

Nonetheless, he was able to defeat Golbat even with his head pain diminishing his psychic strength.

"Note to self...I should try hitting psychic Pokemon on the head in the future...if I face one in battle, that is. Not my own, of course." noted Jake.

"I'm not sure if you have a psychic Pokemon..." answered Lucy.

"Really? Maybe I'll catch one one day." questioned the male Pokemon trainer. That would be rather nice.

Immediately, he decided to send out his Kangaskhan.

"We can do this!" exclaimed Jake.

"Kangaskhan!" bellowed the kangaroo Pokemon.

"This isn't going to be easy..." noted Sabrina. She heard that Kangaskhans were tough.

Shrugging, she decided to have Alakazam use Recover so that he could patch himself up after his battle with Golbat.

Sure enough, Alakazam's head was beginning to feel better.

"Alakazam..." murmured the psychic Pokemon.

However, Kangaskhan retaliated by using Crunch...which surprisingly enough took down Alakazam in one shot.

"Sheesh." murmured Jake.

"Wow." answered Sabrina.

With Alakazam fainted, it looked as if Jake had earned his Marsh Badge.

"Right...I suggest that you head to Cinnabar Island next. Mind you, you'll probably need a boat...or a water Pokemon." noted Sabrina.

"Maybe we could look for a boat?" suggested Lucy.

"Maybe." answered Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Fortunately, she had the necessary materials to build a boat.

She immediately showed them her stash.

"Have you been stealing again?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"You got these at a charity? Never mind then." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Heading towards Pallet Town (which was close to where they started their adventure, oddly enough), they began to build their boat.

After much hard work, it was complete.

"I guess it's time for us to head to Cinnabar now..." noted Jake.

"I wonder why someone would build a Pokemon Gym on an island?" questioned Lucy.

"Ironically, I heard that it was a fire-type gym...it's rather strange to build a gym like that near water, huh?" asked the boy.

"Yeah..." agreed the girl.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She didn't understand the logic in that.

Immediately, they sped off towards Cinnabar.

_I hoped you enjoy this chapter. In the next chapter, our heroes are going to find that the gym's locked...much like the one in Viridian City, strangely enough._

_They're going to have to find the key...which as it turns out happens to be on Blaine himself, of course._

_Can they find him? They'll have to solve a series of riddles._


	44. Chapter 44: Prehistoric Pokemon

A Typical Pokémon Journey

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to visit Cinnabar Island…and meet a girl that everyone thought was a goner._

_Intrigued?_

**Chapter 44: Prehistoric Pokémon**

Using their Blastoise and Pidgeot respectively, Jake and Lucy both arrived at Cinnabar Island.

By the looks of it, Ned and Chris had decided to simply use a boat.

"So, this is Cinnabar Island…I have to admit, it's a rather nice resort." noted Lucy.

"I think there's a bit more to it than that." answered Jake.

Sure enough, there appeared to be a Pokémon research center on the island…as well as a Pokémon Gym.

However, the latter happened to be locked.

"Who locked the door?" questioned Lucy curiously.

"I don't know." answered Jake.

Curious, they began to look at the sign to see who the Gym Leader was this time.

In this case, it was Blaine, the hot-headed quiz master.

Unfortunately, it appeared that getting inside the gym was going to be a bit complicated.

"Clefairy…" murmured Lucy's Clefairy sadly. First the Viridian Gym was locked down…and now this.

Curious, they noticed that there appeared to be a house nearby.

Immediately, they opened the door.

Oddly enough, there happened to be a girl about Lucy's age inside the house. She was wearing a fedora and had green hair, much like Jake.

"Hey there!" exclaimed the girl.

"Hey there…we're looking for the Gym Leader. Have you seen him?" asked Lucy curiously.

"Oh, you mean Blaine…he went to go visit my father's mansion…" answered the green-haired girl.

Immediately, she let out a sigh.

"And your name is…" asked Jake.

"It's Amber." answered Amber.

"Pleased to meet you, Amber." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It was always nice to get to meet more people.

"I'm pleased to meet you too." answered the young girl.

"So, what's this about your father's mansion? Does he live there?" asked Lucy.

"Well, he used to…then he passed away." explained Amber.

"He did? What happened?!" exclaimed the redhead.

"There was a…lab accident." stated the green-haired girl.

"Clefairy…" spoke Lucy's starter Pokémon with a very big frown on her face. What a tragedy that must have been.

"He was trying to create a clone of me…" said Amber.

"Why would he want to do that?" asked Jake.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning…" answered the young girl.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. All of a sudden she was feeling rather excited.

"I was born to the renowned scientist Dr. Fuji and his wife Fauna Bivalve. He was very excited to have a daughter and he loved me very much. Unfortunately, a few days after my fourth birthday…everything went wrong." stated the daughter of Dr. Fuji.

"What happened?" asked Jake.

"Well…" answered Amber.

"_Look, daddy! I'm playing on the street!" exclaimed Amber._

"_Stop that! That's dangerous!" warned Dr. Fuji._

"_But it's so much fun!" bellowed the four-year-old._

_At that very moment, a truck driver came by._

"_Wheee!" exclaimed the driver. Unfortunately, this particular man was not right in the head. He was going on quite a joyride…and was completely ignoring the speed limit._

_It was a miracle that Officer Jenny had not yet arrested him._

_As it turned out, he was heading straight towards Amber._

"_Look out!" screamed Dr. Fuji._

"_Huh?" asked the girl curiously._

"The next thing I knew, I was lying on a bed with a rather large headache with a blanket over my shoulders…I should have listened to my father while I still had the chance." noted the young girl.

Immediately, she took off her hat, revealing a rather large scar on her forehead.

Jake pressed his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you. Most people I know are freaked out by that scar…" noted Amber.

"Are they now?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Yeah…that's why I typically wear this hat…well that and I really love fedoras." explained the green-haired girl.

"It's alright…I still think you look cute even with that scar…" stated Jake.

"Aren't you a flatterer!" exclaimed Amber.

Immediately, she gave him a hug, causing him to blush.

Oddly enough, Lucy seemed a bit unhappy about it.

"Fortunately, I was nursed back to health by a friendly couple who just happened to want a child…they were rather excited about the turn of events. Personally, I found that it was rather lucky that one of them happened to be a doctor." stated Amber.

Amber pulled out a picture of a man wearing a doctor's uniform and a woman wearing a pink dress. The doctor had black hair, glasses and green eyes and the woman had brown hair and blue eyes.

"I grew rather close to them, to say the very least…even after they told me I was adopted and that they found me lying on the street one day. Unfortunately, my father wasn't aware that I was still alive…all he found was the fedora I wore as a child. He immediately assumed the worst." explained Amber.

"Oh no…" murmured Lucy.

"It drove him rather…crazy. He believed that I wasn't gone forever, which in a sense I wasn't, and he decided that he would bring me back using the power of science…" stated the young girl.

"So that's why he wanted to clone you…" noted Jake.

"Yes…that's why he wanted to clone me. Unfortunately, in order to do that…he decided to team up with Team Rocket." explained Amber.

"I used to work with Team Rocket." answered the preteen boy.

"You did?" asked Dr. Fuji's beloved daughter.

"I eventually decided to leave though." stated Jake.

"Oh." comprehended Amber.

"Eventually, my mother realized how insane my father was getting…so she decided to leave him. Said that cloning people wasn't such a great idea…and quite frankly, neither was cloning Pokémon. She said that it just wasn't right." answered the young girl.

"So sorry…" sympathized Jake.

"Eventually, he agreed to work on a top-secret project that only Giovanni and his closest followers were aware of…they called it…the Ultimate Project." explained Amber.

"The Ultimate Project?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. She wasn't quite sure what that was…but it didn't sound like anything good.

"They were trying to create the ultimate Pokémon…a Pokémon that they could use against their enemies. They believed that if they had that kind of power, they could take over the world…maybe even the universe." stated the fedora lover.

"Wow." murmured Lucy.

"Eventually, they decided the best way to do that was to try cloning a Legendary Pokémon…Mew ended up becoming that legendary Pokémon." explained Amber.

"Did you say Mew? Wow!" exclaimed the eleven-year-old.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy in astonishment. She had thought that she had actually seen Mew once…but she wasn't quite sure. Maybe her eyes had been playing tricks on her back then.

"They decided to call the genetically engineered Pokémon Mewtwo…since you know, it was a clone of Mew." explained Amber.

"I suppose that makes sense." nodded Jake.

"They also tried creating clones of starter Pokémon that Team Rocket had stolen from Professor Oak's Lab…but that didn't turn out so well." stated the girl.

"What happened?" asked Lucy.

"_What's happening with the clones?" inquired Dr. Fuji. _

_Something…didn't seem right._

"_Due to budget cuts, we don't have enough power to keep them alive." explained a Team Rocket scientist._

"_What?!" bellowed the bespectacled man._

"_Charmander!" exclaimed Charmandertwo as he began to disappear. Life was good while it lasted._

"_Bulbasaur!" shouted Bulbasaurtwo as he began to disappear as well. Parting was such sweet sorrow._

"_Squirtle!" yelled out Squirtletwo as he vanished. He was hoping that he could join the Squirtle Squad, but apparently it wasn't meant to be._

"_Wait a minute…that means…" murmured Dr. Fuji._

_Sure enough, Ambertwo was beginning to disappear as well._

"_Nooooo!" screamed Mewtwo and Dr. Fuji in unison._

"_Farewell! Remember Mewtwo, life is wonderful!" exclaimed Ambertwo._

_Ambertwo vanished completely, and Mewtwo was left alone._

_Dr. Fuji and Mewtwo both began to cry._

"Gosh." murmured Lucy.

"Clefairy…" stated Lucy's Clefairy sadly. That was rather sad. She was under the impression that since Team Rocket was a criminal organization, they would be loaded…but apparently they didn't have enough money to keep more than one clone alive.

"A few years later, Mewtwo was successfully completed…but wouldn't you know it…he realized that the Team Rocket scientists had decided that he was a tool to be used rather than a Pokémon that should be loved and cherished…he kind of…snapped." spoke Amber.

"Yikes." murmured Jake.

"The laboratory exploded…and my father didn't make it." explained the green-haired girl.

"I'm so sorry…" stated the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"It was a shame…since I had recovered many of my memories since that incident…I was actually about to look for him." said Amber.

"That's a real pity." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy…" murmured Lucy's Clefairy sadly. After hearing Amber's tale, she wanted to cry.

"Anyways, I think I can help you find Blaine…I know the Pokémon mansion better than most people here…mind you, there happen to be a few secret passageways." explained the girl.

"Why would your father include secret passageways inside the mansion?" inquired Jake.

"He wanted to have an easier time getting around the mansion, I guess. Mind you, my parents said that I shouldn't go into the mansion alone these days." answered Amber.

"Why not?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, due to the fact that it's now abandoned, wild Pokémon have taken residence there. They typically do that when humans won't love inside." noted Amber.

"I suppose that makes sense." nodded Jake.

"Mm-hmm." agreed Lucy.

"Of course…since you happen to be Pokémon Trainers…I would imagine that you could take me there…unfortunately, I don't have any Pokémon myself." stated the green-haired girl.

"That's rather unfortunate." answered the wealthy girl.

"Clefairy…" spoke Lucy's Clefairy out loud. Hopefully she would be able to catch a Pokémon one day. It was a bit lonely for those who chose not to be Pokémon trainers.

Then again, not everyone was cut out to be a Pokémon Trainer considering that they typically had to travel across the world of Pokémon in order to collect gym badges.

Lucy was rather lucky to be full of spirit and energy, now that she thought of it.

"Right…off to the Pokémon Mansion we go. You want to battle the Gym Leader here, right? Of course, I heard that Bill has been taking Pokémon Trainers on his cruise ship as of late…you could go on vacation if you don't mind waiting for the Gym Leader." explained Amber.

"Tempting…but we would like to see what your father's mansion is like." answered Jake.

"Alright then. Let's go!" exclaimed the green-haired girl.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy in excitement.

Politely, Amber opened the front door for them.

Hopefully they would find who they were looking for.

_Meanwhile at the Pokémon Research Center…_

"Why did you want us to go here again? I'm kind of itching to battle the Gym Leader here…" said Chris.

"I was hoping that we would get the opportunity to visit some scientists…they might know my father." answered Ned.

"Oh right…of course." nodded the female Pokémon trainer. She was actually a bit curious what his father's friends would be like to be honest. Would they all be scientists like him?

Personally she would imagine that they would be a bit more…varied.

Suddenly, one such scientist approached them.

"Can we help you?" inquired Chris.

"Excuse me…you wouldn't happen to have any fossils, now would you?" asked the scientist.

"We actually do have fossils…why do you ask?" questioned Chris.

"Well, I found a way to bring them to life." answered the biologist.

"You did?" asked the female Pokémon trainer.

"That's really interesting." answered Ned.

"Would you like to try out the process?" asked the scientist.

"Um…sure." agreed Chris.

Immediately, the scientist took the two fossils that were in the duo's possession.

Curious, they noticed that he was putting them inside a machine.

The fossils began to spin around in the machine, glowing with energy as they did so.

When the machine was finished…well, they weren't exactly fossils anymore.

"Kabuto!" exclaimed the freshly resurrected dome Pokémon.

"Omanyte!" bellowed the newly resurrected helix Pokémon.

"Right…which one of you had the Dome Fossil and which one of you had the Helix Fossil?" asked the fossil scientist curiously.

"I had the Dome Fossil and he had the Helix Fossil." explained Chris.

"Alright then." nodded the man.

Immediately, he handed the Kabuto to Chris.

She immediately latched onto her face.

"Would you mind getting off?" asked Chris.

Chris's Kabuto immediately let go of her face.

"Thank you." answered the teenage Pokémon trainer.

Immediately, she scanned her new Kabuto with her Pokedex.

"Kabuto, the Shellfish Pokémon! This Pokémon was resurrected with a fossil found on the ocean floor eons ago!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"That's rather interesting information." noted Chris.

"Kabuto." murmured Chris's Kabuto.

"So…how does it feel to be resurrected?" inquired Chris.

"Kabuto!" exclaimed Chris's Kabuto. It felt rather amazing.

"Alright then…into the Pokeball you go." stated the Pokémon trainer.

Kabuto disappeared inside Chris's Pokeball.

Likewise, Omanyte had wrapped his tentacles around Ned's face.

"Easy there, buddy! You're taking away my glasses!" exclaimed Ned.

Sure enough, Ned's glasses had fallen onto his nose.

Fortunately, Ned's new Omanyte let go of Ned's face shortly afterwards.

"They sure seem affectionate now that we've freed them from those fossils." noted Ned.

Ned scanned Omanyte with his Pokedex.

"Omanyte, the Spiral Pokémon. Though normally extinct, it is possible for it to be resurrected from fossils." explained Ned's Pokedex.

"I guess you were one of the lucky ones." noted Ned.

"Omanyte!" exclaimed Ned's Omanyte.

"Off to your new home!" bellowed Ned.

Immediately, he recalled his new Omanyte into his Pokeball.

At that very moment, Jerry paid them a visit.

Chris was rather annoyed.

"You again…" murmured Chris. For some strange reason, they just couldn't seem to get away from him.

"Guess what, losers! I managed to resurrect a Pokémon!" exclaimed Jerry.

As usual, he had a rather smug grin on his face. Clearly, he was happy about something.

"So did we." answered Ned.

"Well, mine is a million times better!" bellowed the youngster.

Suddenly, Jerry tossed a Pokeball.

"Aerodactyl!" exclaimed the pterodactyl Pokémon.

"Gosh." murmured Ned.

"I actually wish I had a Pokémon like that…" thought Chris.

Jerry scanned his new Pterodactyl with his Pokedex.

"Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. A ferocious, dangerous Pokémon that goes for the throat with its sharp fangs." explained Jerry's Pokedex.

"You had better not treat it the way you treated your Charmander and your Magikarp." warned Chris.

"Why not?" asked Jerry.

"Aerodactyl!" screeched Jerry's Aerodactyl.

"Let's just say if you don't treat it well…there's going to be…consequences." stated Ned.

Suddenly, Ned's Eevee burst from his Pokeball, curious to what was going on outside.

He immediately noticed the ferocious Aerodactyl, and he began to distance himself out of fear.

"Hey there, Eevee!" exclaimed Ned.

"Whatever! I'm heading to the Kanto Power Plant!" bellowed Jerry.

"The Kanto Power Plant? I heard that they actually abandoned that place…" stated Ned.

"Well, guess what! There's a Legendary Pokémon there!" exclaimed the youngster.

"What? There is?" inquired Chris.

"That's right! I'm going to catch it and pulverize you losers! I'll smell you later!" bellowed Jerry.

Immediately, he began to fly away on his new Aerodactyl.

"C'mon! Let's get out of here!" bellowed Jerry.

"Aerodactyl!" exclaimed Jerry's Aerodactyl.

"Do you think there's really a Legendary Pokémon there?" asked Chris.

"I suppose there could be…you'd be surprised where Legendary Pokémon show up. I actually heard that there's a Legendary Pokémon located at Seafoam Islands as well." noted Ned.

"After we defeat the Gym Leader here…we might want to do some sightseeing." answered the female Pokémon trainer.

"Yeah…who knows? We might actually manage to find one of them…according to what my dad told me, there happen to be three Legendary Pokémon flying across Kanto…they're known as the three Legendary Birds." explained Ned.

"The three Legendary Birds, you say?" inquired Chris.

"You heard me right. There's Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. I also heard that they have a leader that lives in the oceans…but he doesn't usually pay Kanto a visit." noted Ned.

"He doesn't?" asked Chris.

"Yes, he doesn't. I guess Kanto isn't the place for him." answered the ten-year-old.

"Maybe if we encounter the Legendary Birds, maybe we should pay him a visit." acknowledged the female Pokémon trainer.

"Maybe we should." agreed Ned.

After that rather unpleasant encounter with Jerry, they decided to visit the local Pokémon Gym.

However, they discovered it to be locked…much like Lucy and Jake had earlier.

"Darn it!" bellowed Chris.

"I guess we'll need to find a key." noted Ned.

Curious, they noticed the mansion nearby.

"Something tells me that the key is all the way in there…" acknowledged the boy.

"They just like making things difficult for us, don't they?" inquired Chris.

Who exactly would leave the key to their gym inside an enormous mansion filled with Pokémon?

She was starting to wonder if Blaine was as smart as people said he was.

Then again, he did happen to be the Gym Leader…so surely he would know something about Pokémon.

"Right…let's see if we can find him…or the key. I have to wonder why he would lock himself inside his own gym…" stated Chris.

"Maybe he's agoraphobic?" questioned Ned.

"Maybe, I don't know." answered the female Pokémon trainer.

Regardless of why he had decided to lock the entrance of the gym, he had made things rather inconvenient for them.

Now that they thought of it, there always seemed to be something impeding their travels…first there was Team Rocket causing trouble at Mt. Moon…then there was that sleeping Snorlax, and then there was Team Rocket again, blocking the way to the Pokémon Gym.

Hopefully, these obstacles would come to an end soon.

Shrugging, they both headed towards the Pokémon Mansion.

"Here we go." stated Chris.

She had to admit, the Pokémon Mansion seemed rather scary now that it was abandoned.

She couldn't help but wonder who had owned such a place.

Whoever they were, they had clearly not used the mansion for quite some time.

Oddly enough, she got the feeling that Lucy lived in a place like this. She did happen to be rather rich after all.

She began to wonder if Lucy was paying the mansion a visit herself.

If that was the case, she had likely taken Jake with her.

"Maybe we'll run into them." she thought.

Taking a deep breath, they both opened the back entrance.

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Unfortunately, my old computer broke down so I'm using a laptop for the time being._

_In the next chapter, we're going to be exploring the mansion…and yes, Amber's going to recover some more of her memories._

_She can't have amnesia forever._

_See you later!_


	45. Chapter 45: The Pokemon Mansion

A Typical Pokémon Journey

_In this chapter, we're going to visiting the Pokémon Mansion…in the process, Amber's going to start having flashbacks of her past…what a shame that her father passed away, huh? At least she got spared by this particular adaption…I just thought that it would be an interesting twist._

_And yes, we're going to be battling Blaine soon…after he's defeated there's only going to be one badge left._

_You probably know who it belongs to._

**Chapter 45: The Pokémon Mansion**

Lucy, Jake, and Amber ventured into the Pokémon Mansion, eager to find Blaine so that they could challenge him to a Gym Battle.

They were all looking forward to it. Well, Lucy and Jake were anyway. Amber wasn't a Pokémon Trainer yet…though she wondered if she should become one. Everyone seemed to be a Pokémon Trainer these days.

Of course, if she did become a Pokémon Trainer, she would end up getting a lot of friends…both human and Pokémon.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to be a celebrity.

They had to admit, the mansion was rather creepy…abandoned mansions tended to creep people out like that.

Not only that, but it was rather dusty. It looked like someone should mop things up.

"Do you have a mop?" inquired Lucy.

"I didn't bring one, unfortunately." answered Jake.

"That's a shame. I wonder whose going to clean up now." noted the female Pokémon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Since nobody was using the mansion anymore…did this mean that she could steal from it?

Then again, Amber probably wouldn't approve of it. This used to be her home after all.

How long had it been abandoned anyway? About a decade? That seemed like a rough estimate.

Personally they were a bit worried that the mansion was going to suddenly collapse. The foundation did seem a bit unstable after all.

However, it might have just been their imagination. Every now and then, their imaginations would go wild, in particular Lucy's.

As they wandered around the mansion, they noticed what appeared to be a family photo.

Curious, Amber began to examine it.

Sure enough, she was in that picture.

Immediately, she began to sigh. She wished that she had gotten to know them so much.

"I've really been away from home for a long time, haven't I?" inquired Amber.

Personally she wished that her father hadn't become so engrossed in his research. Maybe her mother had been right about not cloning humans and Pokémon.

She had to question the ethics of that herself. After all, Giovanni was most likely planning to use that research to take over the world.

Imagine the army that he could potentially create with that…all because one man couldn't cope with the loss of his daughter.

"Maybe it was a good thing Mewtwo destroyed that laboratory when he did…though I still do feel sorry for my father." she thought.

"Are you coming, Amber?" asked Jake.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming!" exclaimed Amber.

She had to admit, she had gotten distracted for a moment there.

Of course, Lucy was one to get distracted herself. She always seemed to lose her train of thought.

Currently, she was admiring what appeared to be a vase…which unfortunately had become cracked.

Suddenly, they noticed something that was rather interesting.

As it turned out, there were several papers in this mansion detailing Dr. Fuji's experiments.

"What's going on here?" questioned Jake.

Immediately, he began to examine one of the papers.

They detailed about how scientists found Mew and how they managed to acquire a DNA sample of it. They then used it to create a clone…however, they were still not satisfied with what they had and they decided to make adjustments to it.

They had wanted to make the ultimate Pokémon.

Eventually, they had succeeded.

"They really were trying to make the ultimate Pokémon, weren't they?" questioned Jake.

"I'm afraid so! Who knows where Mewtwo is now?" questioned Amber.

"Yeah…I wonder." answered Lucy.

She had just hoped that Giovanni had not managed to get his hands on him. She feared what he could do with that kind of power in his hands.

He seemed strong enough as it was…even if they had managed to defeat him twice.

She was glad that Jake and Chris had been there to protect her. From what she knew, she was still Giovanni's number one target.

On the plus side, he seemed to be running out of options. They had already managed to infiltrate his hideout and prevent him from collecting the Master Ball.

Still, she had to wonder where he was. He had suddenly gone into hiding following the incident at Silph Co.

She wondered if she should try looking for him after they had managed to find Blaine.

Or maybe they should try looking for Giovanni before they tried looking for the fire-type Gym Leader. That didn't seem like a bad idea.

"I wonder where Blaine is?" questioned Lucy. Had he already left while they were gone?

"I hope he's somewhere close." answered Jake.

To be honest, the mansion was starting to creep them out. They got the feeling that they weren't alone there.

Sure enough, their hunch turned out to be right.

"Chris? Ned? Is that you?" inquired Jake.

"Small world, isn't it?" questioned Chris.

"I suppose." nodded Ned. Of course, he had only seen Kanto. Were there any other regions that they should try visiting?

Personally, he thought they should save that for when they had competed in the Indigo Plateau Conference. He was wondering how well they would do.

If they didn't make it past the preliminaries, then they could always try again, right?

Suddenly, some wild Pokémon decided to reveal themselves.

"Grimer!" exclaimed a nearby Grimer.

"Koffing!" bellowed a nearby Koffing.

"Oh dear…" murmured Amber. Something told her that she should try calling Pokémon Control. When a building is left alone for too long, the Pokémon start to get a bit crazy about it.

Sure enough, one of the Koffings was beginning to Self-Destruct.

Fortunately, Chris had her Gengar take the blast…since Self-Destruct had no effect on ghost Pokémon, he wasn't hurt at all.

"That's a relief." noted Chris.

Fortunately, it looked as if the wild Pokémon weren't going to be a serious threat to them. None of them had evolved yet, after all, while they had teams of fully evolved Pokémon.

Still, they did seem to be fairly abundant.

Suddenly, Amber noticed a picture that she had drawn as a child.

Immediately, she began to remember the early days when she was still a toddler.

"_Look at the picture I made, daddy!" exclaimed Amber._

_Curious, Dr. Fuji decided to examine it._

"_That's a picture of Mew." noted Dr. Fuji._

"_I know! Mew is such an incredible Pokémon!" bellowed Amber._

"_It certainly is." nodded her father._

_Personally he was hoping that he would get to experiment on it one day. There was a lot that they could learn about the creature._

_Despite its young appearance, Mew was in fact was one of the oldest Pokémon in existence. It was definitely older than Dr. Fuji, anyway._

_Maybe he should try using a device to determine just how old Mew was. The results would most likely astound him._

_But for now, he needed to get his daughter to bed. She was feeling pretty sleepy._

All of a sudden, she was feeling a bit depressed. Was she going to keep having flashbacks like that as she went through the mansion?

She wasn't sure if she was ready for all this yet.

Curious, the five of them continued their search for Blaine. At this point, he couldn't be too far from them.

However, they eventually came to a room with three doors. Which one should they go through? They didn't want to end up going through the wrong one.

That would definitely set them back, to say the very least. Why was Blaine making this so difficult?

Suddenly, they noticed a message.

"Hmm?" thought Jake.

Immediately, he began to read it.

"How many hands do I have? Well, that's easy. I have two hands." said the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Curious, he wondered if this meant that they should try going through the second door.

Shrugging, they decided that was their best bet.

Sure enough, it was, as a Muk and a Weezing emerged from the first and third doors shortly afterwards.

What were they doing behind those doors they ask? Because neither of them moved much…and there was garbage behind those doors as well.

After playing that rather peculiar guessing game, the four of them noticed that there were two statues up ahead.

"What are they doing here?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. This was rather strange.

Unfortunately, the door happened to be locked.

"Who locked the door?" questioned Ned. Other than Blaine, he did not recall anyone else being there.

Shrugging, they began to think of a way to open the door.

"Maybe we could use one of our Pokémon to bust it down?" questioned Chris.

"My father said that I shouldn't do things like that in order to solve my problems." answered Amber.

"Yeah…we should probably try something else." suggested Ned.

"Perhaps there's a key somewhere?" inquired Lucy.

Curious, Jake noticed that there was yet another message.

"I wonder who keeps writing these?" questioned the Team Rocket Grunt as he began to read it.

Oddly enough, the handwriting seemed a bit familiar. Had he somehow seen it somewhere before?

Shrugging, he decided to read it out loud.

"Whenever you have a chat with someone, you should look them in the eye." read Jake.

"Well, I already know that." answered Chris.

"Me too." nodded Ned.

"I think it might indicate something in this case though." questioned Lucy.

"Clef?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy. Was this another riddle?

Suddenly, she noticed that the two statues were facing away from each other.

"Wait a minute…" thought Lucy.

Curious, she began to move the statues so that they were facing each other instead.

Sure enough, the door opened.

"Who keeps setting up puzzles like this?" questioned the female Pokémon trainer.

"Beats me." answered Amber.

Oddly enough, she did not ever recall her former home ever having puzzles like that.

Somehow, she got the feeling that Blaine was the one making them. That would make sense considering who he was.

"Why does he have to make life so difficult for us?" asked Amber curiously. Couldn't he make things easier for them? They just wanted to hurry up and battle him already at this point.

"Who? Blaine?" asked Jake.

Amber nodded.

"Hmm…" thought the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Suddenly, they found themselves under attack by several wild Pokémon. They had been looking forward to an ambush.

"Koffing!" exclaimed a wild Koffing.

"Grimer!" bellowed a wild Grimer.

"Don't they usually attack us one at a time?" questioned Lucy.

"I know. It's weird. Maybe something has agitated them?" inquired Chris.

"I hope it wasn't me." stated Ned.

Immediately, they began to send out their Pokémon to battle their attackers.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Grimer!" shouted Jake's Grimer.

Immediately, they prepared themselves to battle the aggressive wild Pokémon.

Jigglypuff began to sing, putting all the wild Pokémon near her to sleep. However, it didn't affect all of them. Some Pokémon were more vulnerable to Sing than others, it seemed.

Eevee then followed by using Take Down on a nearby Koffing, causing it to faint.

Grimer began to toss Sludge Bombs, hoping that they would drive off the attackers.

However, the wild Pokémon were beginning to fight back.

Suddenly, one of the Koffings Self-Destructed. Though this had the benefit of knocking the other wild Pokémon back, it also injured Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Hmm…we might want to send out some reinforcements." noted the tomboyish Pokémon trainer.

"Yeah…" nodded Ned. Some of the wild Pokémon had heard the explosion and had come to investigate.

Immediately, they decided to send out some more Pokémon.

"This is getting intense…" noted Amber.

"Go, Arcanine!" exclaimed Ned.

"Go, Onix!" bellowed Chris.

"Go, Lapras!" shouted Lucy.

"Go, Kangaskhan!" yelled Jake.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed Ned's Arcanine.

"Onix!" bellowed Chris's Onix.

"Lapras!" shouted Lucy's Lapras.

"Kangaskhan!" yelled Jake's Kangaskhan.

Personally, they were starting to wonder what they had gotten themselves into. Who knew that there were so many wild Pokémon inside the Pokémon Mansion?

Apparently, you learned something new every single day…as Blaine would probably say to them if he was there.

Unfortunately, he wasn't, and they still needed to search for him…once they had defeated the wild Pokémon.

"How many of them are there?" asked Lucy as her Clefairy used her Metronome ability to launch a Flamethrower at a Weezing.

"I don't know! Don't ask me!" exclaimed Chris as her Onix use Rock Slide to crush a horde of Gastly.

"Did we spray ourselves with a chemical that attracts wild Pokémon or something? I don't remind Pokémon being this violent…" questioned Jake.

"This is actually starting to scare me." noted Ned.

"Gastly!" exclaimed a wild Gastly.

Ned was so frightened that his glasses nearly fell off of his face.

"Darn it! Ghost Pokémon just don't give me a break…" acknowledged the boy.

"You can cry like a baby after we're done fighting." noted Chris.

Curious, she wondered if she should try sending out her Gengar. Even Gastlys were rather nervous around their evolution.

Sure enough, more of them were beginning to enter through the walls.

"Oh no…" thought Ned. Things were getting quite frightening indeed…and it wasn't just because of the Ghost Pokémon.

At this rate, they were going to be overwhelmed.

Immediately, they decided to send out yet another Pokémon.

"Go, Machoke!" exclaimed Jake.

"Go, Gengar!" bellowed Chris.

"Go, Alakazam!" shouted Lucy.

"Go, Golem!" yelled Ned.

Suddenly, Jake noticed that in the commotion a Link Cable had been knocked near their feet.

Shrugging, he decided to use it to evolve his Machoke.

Immediately, she began to evolve into a Machamp.

"Well, would you look at that…" noted Jake. Personally he was wondering if his new Machamp was going to be strongest Pokémon ever.

Her strength was going to surpass that of his teammates, that was for sure. However, she was likely still going to have trouble fighting psychic and flying types.

Those were her weaknesses after all. Type advantages and all that.

Speaking of which, flying Pokémon were entering the battlefield as well.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the flying Pokémon.

"Really?" questioned Chris.

At this rate, they were going to be facing an entire army of Pokémon.

Fortunately, it appeared that they were weakening a bit now that they were bringing more Pokémon.

Hopefully, they would be able to drive them away.

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, Gengar used Shadow Ball, knocking over several Pokémon like bowling pins.

"Strike!" bellowed Chris.

And to make things better, some of the Pokémon were unable to attack Gengar as their attacks were passing straight through them.

They just didn't seem to understand that Gengar wasn't a corporeal Pokémon and that therefore Normal and Fighting Pokémon wouldn't be able to hurt him…at least not without using a move that they didn't specialize in.

Still, some of the Pokémon were giving him a hard time. Surprisingly, he could be bitten…it was an effective technique against Gengar in fact.

"Gengar!" exclaimed Chris's Gengar. That one really hurt. Why did Golbats have such sharp fangs?

At this point, the wild Pokémon were starting to lose morale and they were beginning to retreat.

"Yes!" cheered Ned.

However, they got the feeling that a big Pokémon was approaching.

"Hmm?" questioned Lucy.

Sure enough, it was a wild Charizard.

"A wild Charizard? Wow, we've hit the jackpot." noted Jake.

This wild Charizard was rather aggressive, too. Immediately, it launched a destructive Flamethrower.

"Whoa!" bellowed Ned. Would they have enough firepower to take it on?

Unfortunately, he got a critical hit on Ned's Eevee, causing it to faint.

"Oh man!" bellowed Ned.

It looked like he was going to have to send out another Pokémon.

"Right…what should I send out now?" questioned the boy.

Curious, he began to think of his options.

Suddenly, he remembered his Gyarados.

"Oh yeah…that's right. I'm sure that will do the trick." noted the boy.

Immediately, he sent out his Gyarados to deal with the vicious Charizard.

Personally he was wondering what it was doing outside of Charizard Valley. He thought that was where all the Charizards lived…it seemed to be a popular tourist spot these days.

Fortunately, his Golem was doing quite a lot of damage to him.

"Charizard!" exclaimed Charizard. Unfortunately for him, Charizards suffered from a severe type advantage against Rock Pokémon, as they were both fire and flying Pokémon.

Eventually, the Charizard fainted, and they were free to continue since all of the other wild Pokémon decided to flee after seeing him go down.

They let out a sigh of relief a few seconds later. They were so happy that it was finally over. Just how long was that Pokémon attack?

They had lost track of time.

"What a brutal Pokémon attack…" remarked Lucy.

"Well, at least our Pokémon got experience out of it." noted Chris.

"It was still rather scary though." stated Amber.

"I know." nodded Ned.

"I just hope that we don't have to encounter another Pokémon ambush like that in the near future. It just isn't going to be healthy for our Pokémon." said Jake.

At this rate they were going to have to visit the Pokémon Center.

It was a good thing that it was located right outside the mansion considering how many wild Pokémon were in there really.

Sure enough, they noticed yet another door…with yet another puzzle.

This time, they needed to insert a passcode.

"This might hurt our heads…" noted Lucy.

"Clefairy…" murmured Lucy's Clefairy. After that Pokémon attack, she hoped that this was the last puzzle.

Curious, Jake began to read the message next to it to see what the passcode was. Incidentally, it happened to be four digits.

"Playing golf is fun…I like to tango…Slap my hand…and I like to play a game of pool every now and then…" said Jake.

This riddle was a bit confusing.

Curious, the four of them began to think what the passcode was.

Eventually, Ned came up with the answer.

"It's 4258!" exclaimed Ned.

Immediately, he typed in the passcode.

Sure enough, it was correct, and the door began to open.

They came across Blaine a few minutes later.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you! We had to face an onslaught of wild Pokémon to get here!" bellowed Lucy.

"Sorry about that…" apologized Blaine.

"What was with the puzzles?" inquired Jake.

"I happen to be a big fan of brainteasers." answered the fire-type specialist.

"That explains a lot." noted Chris.

"I happen to be done here…so if you would like you may come to my Gym and battle me." said Blaine.

Immediately, he began to leave the Pokémon Mansion.

Fortunately, leaving the mansion was much easier than finding Blaine.

Taking a deep breath, they stood outside the Pokémon Gym.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Lucy.

"Yes, I am." nodded Jake.

Taking a deep breath, they began to enter the Cinnabar Gym.

"Good luck out there!" exclaimed Amber.

They would need it if they wanted to defeat Blaine.

_Well, that was a rather interesting chapter…you probably weren't expecting that wild Pokémon attack, if I'm not mistaken._

_Since there weren't any trainer battles in this episode I decided to do a little something creative to make up for it, in case you were wondering._

_In the next chapter, our heroes are going to try battling Blaine._

_I look forward to seeing you later!_


	46. Chapter 46: Turning Up The Heat

A Typical Pokémon Journey

_In this chapter, our four protagonists are going to try battling Blaine…as usual, the match isn't going to go too well for one of them…but who is it going to be this time?_

_It looks like there's going to be the need for another rematch…_

**Chapter 46: Turning Up The Heat**

"I hope going out of the way to find the Gym Leader was worth it." noted Chris. There were a heck of a lot of Pokémon in that Pokémon Mansion…even if they didn't see any Pokémon trainers.

"I think it was…I'm a big fan of Blaine to be honest. He's smart just like me!" exclaimed Ned.

"Oh really?" inquired the teenage Pokémon trainer. Now that she thought of it…Blaine did look like a scientist. He had the glasses and the lab coat and everything. Maybe he was a scientist before he became a Gym Leader?

She supposed that made sense. Maybe Professor Oak would become a Gym Leader one day…if he hadn't retired from Pokémon training that is.

Hopefully he wasn't a crazy one…there were enough mad scientists working for Team Rocket as it was. She had heard rumors that one of them was trying to capture a Legendary Pokémon…though she wasn't quite sure which one. But apparently it had something to do with the Legendary Bird Pokémon.

Speaking of which, did they really exist?

Immediately, they noticed how hot the gym was.

"Sheesh…I'm really starting to sweat all of a sudden…" noted Chris.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Blaine is a Fire Type Gym Leader…" questioned Ned.

"That explains why people call him the Hotheaded Quiz Master…" acknowledged the teenage Pokémon trainer.

Speaking of quizzes, it appeared that Blaine was asking a question.

"Greetings Pokémon Trainers! Before we battle, why don't I ask you a question?" inquired Blaine.

"Alright…shoot!" answered Ned.

"I'm thinking of something destructive…yet at the same thing fragile in itself. What is it?" questioned the Gym Leader.

"Hmm…" thought the Pokémon trainer. This was an interesting question. What could the answer possibly be?

However, as it turned out…Ned knew the answer.

"It's fire, isn't it?" questioned Ned.

"That is correct! I had a feeling you were smart…" noted the Gym Leader.

"That's what people say about me…" answered the Pokémon trainer.

"As a reward, you get to go first…" stated Blaine.

"Alright then…I think I know what to choose…" noted Ned.

Immediately, Ned sent out his Gyarados.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned's Gyarados.

"Yes…that will be very helpful against me. But I'm still not going down without a fight!" bellowed Blaine.

"I can see that." nodded Ned.

For his first Pokémon, Blaine decided to send out his Ponyta.

"Hmm…that Fire Pokémon looks awfully fast…" questioned the Pokémon trainer.

Curious, he decided to scan it with his Pokedex. Something told him that she might be able to outrun Gyarados if he wasn't careful.

"Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon. Its hooves are as hard of diamond, and can trample a foe extremely quickly." stated Ned's Pokedex.

"Hmm, my hunch was right. Ponyta is fast…" noted Ned.

Fortunately, it appeared that was the only thing Ned needed to worry about, since Ponyta wasn't doing much damage with her Flamethrower attack.

On the other hand, Gyarados was doing extremely well.

"Ponyta…" murmured the fire horse Pokémon.

"Hang in there!" exclaimed Blaine.

"Something tells me he's a strategist." thought Ned.

After all, he was a quiz master.

Immediately, Ponyta surrounded Gyarados with a Fire Spin, trapping him in a circle of fire.

"Oh dear…looks like you're trapped." acknowledged Ned.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned's Gyarados. He did not appreciate being confined.

In retaliation, he hit Ponyta with Surf, causing her to faint instantly.

"It's a good thing I taught Gyarados that technique…" noted Ned. It was making life a lot easier for him.

"Very good…but you're going to find my next Pokémon to be tougher." warned Blaine.

"I can imagine that…" acknowledged the Pokémon trainer. Something had told him that Ponyta was the weakest out of Blaine's Pokémon.

"Go, Ninetales!" exclaimed Blaine.

"Ninetales!" bellowed the fire Pokémon.

Curious, Ned scanned Ninetales with his Pokedex.

"Ninetales, the Fox Pokémon. It is very intelligent…and very vengeful. If you touch its tails, you could end up being cursed for 1000 years." warned Ned's Pokedex.

Ned gulped. That didn't sound like fun.

Sure enough, Ninetales was in fact a more challenging opponent than Ponyta was. In fact, Ned was starting to feel worried.

Still, Gyarados showed no sign of not wanting to continue the assault. Adding to that, the Fire Spin had completely disappeared. Apparently, Ponyta was needed to keep it up and running.

Well, why question something that he liked.

Unfortunately, Ninetales had high special defense, so Surf wasn't hurting her as much as it could have.

And to make matters worse, Ninetales was charging up a Fire Blast.

It hit Gyarados dead-on…and to make matters worse Gyarados ended up being burned, so it wasn't going to do as much damage…at least, not with physical attacks.

And of course, there was the matter of it taking periodic damage.

"Gyarados…" murmured Ned's Gyarados. All of a sudden, he felt like had a fever. Apparently, being burnt made Pokémon feel like that.

"Excellent! Keep applying pressure on him!" ordered Blaine.

Ninetales nodded, and whipped up another Fire Blast.

However, this time she missed.

"Phew!" thought Ned. He had been worried for a second there.

Blaine frowned. Unfortunately, that happened sometimes.

Apparently, Fire Blast wasn't all that accurate. If he tried using Flamethrower, she would hit most of the time…but Blaine hadn't given her that TM or taught him that technique as a Vulpix.

Gyarados hit Ninetales with another Surf…and this time, he got a critical hit.

"Way to go, Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

Sure enough, Ninetales looked rather tired. Another hit like that and she would be down for the count.

However, Ned knew that she wasn't planning on going down without a fight.

This time, Ninetales managed to get a critical hit of his own, knocking Gyarados down.

By the looks of it, Gyarados couldn't take many more hits.

"This is unfortunate…" noted Ned. Gyarados was basically his trump card, especially for matches such as this.

But not even he could last out on the battlefield forever.

"Keep using Surf!" ordered Ned.

Gyarados nodded, and hit Ninetales with yet another Surf.

This time, she fainted.

"You've done well so far…but how about this?" inquired Blaine.

This time, Blaine decided to send out his Arcanine.

Incidentally, Ned had one of those himself.

"What a coincidence…" noted the Pokémon trainer.

Blaine decided to start out by using Roar.

Unfortunately, this caused Ned's Weepinbell to be forced out.

"Uh-oh…" thought Ned.

Arcanine then followed with Flamethrower, and Weepinbell fainted.

"No fair!" bellowed the Pokémon trainer.

Sighing, Ned recalled his Weepinbell and sent out his Gyarados instead.

However, at this point, he was looking awfully tired.

"He's probably going to faint too…" noted Ned.

Unfortunately, that was the case.

Shrugging, Ned decided that maybe it was time to use his own Arcanine. He sure seemed awfully powerful after he had evolved from that Fire Stone.

It was sure nice to get gifts from friends.

Arcanine attempted to Roar again, but Ned quickly ordered Arcanine to cover his ears. Hopefully this would do the trick.

He wasn't sure what Pokémon would come out of his Pokeballs this time. Granted, he didn't recall bringing any other Pokémon that were weak to fire with him…but he didn't want to be too careless.

Thankfully, it did. Ned's Arcanine did not end up back in his Pokeball.

Immediately, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I was worried for a second…" thought Ned.

Still, he got the feeling that Arcanine was going to be a difficult opponent. After all, Arcanine was known as the Legendary Pokémon.

It was rather strange considering that there were multiple Arcanine in the world while there were only one of each of the other Legendary Pokémon.

Were the rumors really true? He ought to try looking for the place where the rumors originated and see if there are some truth in them. Some rumors were like that, after all.

"Arcanine, use Flamethrower!" ordered Ned.

Unfortunately, it wasn't super-effective.

However, Blaine's Arcanine's Flamethrower wasn't so super-effective either.

"This battle is going to take a while…" noted Blaine.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Ned.

"Hurry up already! I want to get my Volcano Badge!" exclaimed Chris.

"We've still got some time…from what I've heard the Viridian Gym hasn't opened yet…and the Pokémon League isn't opening its gates for quite a while…" answered Ned.

"Fine…" murmured the teenage Pokémon trainer. She did admit that Ned made a good point…but she still wanted to get eight gym badges as soon as possible.

How many gyms were there in Kanto, anyway? Some of them weren't even official Pokémon Gyms, as was the case of the dojo in Saffron City.

Personally he was under the impression that Chris wanted to defeat every Gym Leader in Kanto…regardless of how many there were.

How exactly did he get dragged along for this crazy ride, again?

Wait, ride…oh wait, that's right…Chris started traveling with him because he broke her bicycle.

Well, technically his Eevee did.

Now where was he?

"Hmm…" thought Ned. Perhaps he should try using something other than a fire attack on Arcanine since he was resisting it.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

"I know! I'll use Take Down!" exclaimed the young Pokémon trainer.

On cue, Ned's Arcanine hit Blaine's Arcanine with Take Down.

He got a critical hit, and Blaine's Arcanine fainted.

"It looks like it's time for me to use my last Pokémon…" noted Blaine.

"And that last Pokémon is?" questioned Ned.

"Go, Rapidash!" exclaimed the fire Pokémon Gym Leader.

"Rapidash!" bellowed the fire Pokémon.

"A Rapidash? Isn't that the evolved form of Ponyta?" questioned Ned.

"As a matter of fact, it is. Good to see you've been studying Pokémon evolutions…speaking of which, you know that Ponyta I sent against you earlier? That was her daughter…" answered Blaine.

"Really?" inquired Ned.

"Yes…I basically got a two-for-one deal…" acknowledged the fire Gym Leader.

"Interesting…" said the young boy.

"I hope you're ready, because this is my strongest Pokémon!" warned Blaine.

"I can see that." nodded the geeky Pokémon trainer.

"I wonder how this is going to turn out…" murmured Chris.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff. She was wondering that exact same question herself.

Unfortunately for Ned, Blaine's Rapidash had a very powerful Fire Blast.

And to make matters worse, Rapidash got a critical hit.

Arcanine fainted…

Fortunately, Ned had a pretty good idea what to send out last.

"Go, Golem!" bellowed Ned.

"Golem!" exclaimed Ned's Golem.

Suddenly, Ned's Eevee came out of his Pokeball.

"Eevee?" inquired Ned's Eevee.

"Er, were you expecting me to use you for this Gym Battle?" asked Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee.

"Well, I suppose you could stand on the sidelines and watch me battle Blaine…is that alright with you?" inquired the boy.

Ned's Eevee nodded…though personally he would have liked to participate.

Immediately, Ned's Eevee began to lie down next to Chris's Jigglypuff and Chris herself.

"Eevee…" murmured Ned's Eevee.

"A Golem? That might be a problem…" noted Blaine. Unfortunately for him, fire Pokémon were weak against rock and ground types…and Golem happened to be both.

On the other hand, if he had brought a grass type or a water type, he would be having a field day. But he wasn't that type of Gym Leader.

"Try using Earthquake!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Golem nodded, and began shaking the arena uncontrollably.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Chris, nearly falling out of the audience stand.

"Jiggly!" bellowed Chris's Jigglypuff. She was starting to wish that she was a flying type…then again, she was known as the balloon Pokémon.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee, falling into the battle arena.

"Whoops." murmured Ned.

Immediately, Rapidash fell over. Apparently, she had taken a lot of damage.

Ned picked up Eevee and took him back into the audience stand. Personally he wondered if he should have stayed in his Pokeball.

However, Rapidash was not going to give up yet. Immediately, she leapt into the air.

"Where did she go?" questioned Ned.

His question was answered when suddenly she landed on top of Golem, causing her to fall over.

"Uh-oh." thought the boy.

Unfortunately, Golem had fallen, and she could not get up.

This gave Rapidash the opportunity to stomp on Golem's face.

Fortunately, Ned had an idea.

"Try using Rollout!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Golem nodded, and he immediately rolled into a ball, much to Rapidash's surprise.

"This can't be good…" noted Blaine.

For Blaine, it was not. Ned's Golem immediately rolled towards Rapidash. Though she was fast, Golem eventually caught up with her.

Rapidash was immediately run over…and to make matters worse Golem was coming for another attack.

Rapidash tried to get up, but unfortunately her legs collapsed from underneath her.

This gave Golem the opportunity to finish the battle, and Rapidash fainted.

"Congratulations, I had a feeling you would win. You're a rather smart Pokémon trainer, you know that?" inquired Blaine.

"Thanks…" answered Ned.

Immediately, Blaine handed Ned the Volcano Badge.

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake entered the Pokémon Gym.

"I guess we're going to have to wait in line." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That was a bit of a disappointment, but at least they would have a show.

"Finally! I was sick of waiting!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed Chris's Jigglypuff. Now they would get an opportunity to shine.

Sure enough, Blaine was healing his Pokémon as they spoke. He was always ready to fight another challenge, it seemed.

Personally Chris was under the impression that Blaine would retire from being a Gym Leader by now. He looked to be a fairly old man…but what did she know?

Once again, Blaine decided to send out his Ponyta first.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed Blaine's Ponyta.

"Well, this seems rather simple." noted Chris. Ponyta may be fast…but she couldn't outrun her Pokémon…right?

She decided to start off with her Gengar…because she liked to scare people every now and then.

Hopefully Gengar would be scarily effective.

"Try using Mean Look to freeze it in place, would you?" inquired Chris.

Chris's Gengar nodded, and used Mean Look to scare Ponyta.

This seemed rather effective, seemed Ponyta immediately cowered in fear.

"Tauroseye!" exclaimed Chris.

"Tauroseye?" inquired Ned.

"I have a Tauros now…so I just thought of that." answered the female Pokémon trainer.

Ned shrugged. That made sense, he supposed.

Gengar then followed by launching a Shadow Ball, knocking Ponyta down like a bowling ball.

"Strike!" exclaimed Chris.

"Do you want to play bowling later or something?" questioned Ned.

"That does sounds like fun, but not right now. Maybe after this Gym Battle…" answered the female Pokémon trainer.

"Do you like to bowl, Lucy?" inquired Jake.

"Well, apparently my Clefairy does. I think she swiped a bowling ball from the bowling alley." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She was aiming for three hundred.

Ponyta launched a Flamethrower attack, but Gengar leapt out of the way.

He then followed with another Shadow Ball, and Ponyta fainted.

"One down, three to go." thought Chris.

"Most impressive…but I have a braver Pokémon…" noted Blaine.

"And what is that?" questioned the female Pokémon trainer.

Immediately, Blaine sent out his Arcanine.

"Oh, that's right…" noted Chris. She was well-aware how brave Growlithe and his evolutions were.

Apparently, this was the reason that Blaine had decided to send out his Arcanine.

Sure enough, Arcanine didn't look to be frightened of Gengar at all…

…this was rather unfortunate, considering that fear gave Gengar strength.

"Gengar…" murmured Chris's Gengar. All of a sudden, he wasn't smiling anymore. He was frowning.

For some strange reason, Chris couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was on trouble now.

Then again, it was probably nothing.

However, Gengar had every right to be worried, as Arcanine immediately hit Gengar with a Fire Blast.

"Gengar!" exclaimed Gengar. That really hurt!

"Uh-oh…" thought Chris.

In retaliation, Chris had Gengar use Shadow Ball…but Arcanine was too fast.

He then followed by using Crunch, biting into Gengar and making him faint.

"I was hoping he would last a bit longer…" noted Chris.

Gengar was admittedly scary…but she was starting to wonder if Arcanine was even scarier. He was a Legendary Pokémon after all…though not in the traditional sense.

Well, it was time to send out another Pokémon.

"Go, Tauros!" exclaimed Chris.

"Tauros!" bellowed the bull Pokémon.

Once again, it appeared that Chris was going for the brute force technique…but how well would that hold out?

"Tauros, use Take Down!" ordered Chris.

Tauros nodded, and immediately charged into Arcanine.

However, he also ended up taking damage in the process.

"Chris might want to use that technique in moderation…" noted Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed Ned's Eevee. He in fact had used that technique before and gotten himself injured in the process.

Personally he thought that it was worthwhile to use…but he wouldn't use it when he was running low on health or he would end up fainting.

Fortunately, Tauros managed to avoid being scorched by Arcanine's Fire Blast.

In retaliation, he hit Arcanine with Horn Attack.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed Blaine's Arcanine.

"Maybe I should switch…" questioned Blaine.

Immediately, he withdrew Arcanine and sent out his Ninetales.

"What's he up to?" questioned Chris.

Shrugging, she decided to have Tauros stomp on Ninetales…

…but he ended up stepping on one of Ninetales's tails.

He was not amused, to say the very least.

In retaliation, he used a magical curse to make Tauros grow small.

She then stepped on Tauros in retaliation, causing him to faint.

"What the heck just happened?" inquired Chris.

"Please change her Tauros back, Ninetales." ordered Blaine.

Reluctantly, Blaine's Ninetales did as his master asked.

"There goes another one of my Pokémon…they're kind of precious to me, you know…" pointed out Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"I guess it's your turn now." noted Chris.

"Jiggly!" cheered Chris's Jigglypuff. She was looking forward to this.

Unfortunately, Ninetales was not going to go down easily, and he wasted no time in Jigglypuff.

Fortunately, she was short enough to duck underneath her fire breath.

In retaliation, she began to sing, but Ninetales was smart and covered his ears.

Jigglypuff frowned. That usually worked.

This time, Jigglypuff got hit head-on.

"Jiggly!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

Fortunately, she was alright.

In retaliation, Chris had Jigglypuff use Rollout.

This proved to be effective, as Ninetales was unable to stop Jigglypuff from rolling. She was really a bouncy Pokémon.

Jigglypuff kept rolling into Ninetales again and again and again, and eventually she fainted.

However, she was feeling rather tired after that.

"Jiggly…" murmured Chris's Jigglypuff, gasping for breath.

"Hang in there!" ordered Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded. She could last a little longer, right?

Once again, Blaine decided to send out his Arcanine, since it was one of his two remaining Pokémon at this point.

Shrugging, Chris decided to have Jigglypuff use Rollout again…

…but Arcanine was too fast.

Immediately, Jigglypuff collapsed from exhaustion.

"Now I only have one Pokémon left…" thought Chris.

Well, she had better make this count.

Immediately, she sent out her Onix.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock snake Pokémon.

Fortunately, it appeared that Onix would be ideal for this gym, since he was a rock and a ground type.

Immediately, he buried Arcanine in a Rock Slide.

However, he was able to free himself and hit Onix with a Fire Blast.

Not only that, but Onix had been burned.

"Darn it!" bellowed Chris. That was rather unfortunate.

Fortunately, Onix was able to take down Arcanine with a Rock Slide shortly afterwards…

…only to faint from his burn.

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed Chris.

Apparently, Arcanine had gotten a decent hit.

To make a long story short, Chris had lost.

Immediately, she stamped her foot on the floor in frustration.

"She doesn't take losing well, does she?" questioned Jake.

"Apparently not." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It was a good thing her trainer took losing well or she might be in trouble.

Chris immediately walked out of the gym in a huff.

"Darn it! What did I do wrong?" asked Chris.

"Haha!" laughed Jerry, pointing at Chris.

Perhaps she needed to come up with a different strategy.

"Maybe this time I'll try to strategize a bit more…but for now I think I'll go train my Pokémon." noted Chris.

But where could she do that?

Suddenly, she noticed Bill, who was nearby what appeared to be a fast-travelling ship.

"Greetings! How would you like to go on a tour of the Sevii Islands with me?" asked Bill.

"What's this?" inquired Chris.

Oddly enough, she didn't recall this ever being in Pokémon Red and Blue…

Maybe she should go get Ned and the others to see if they were interested.

Sure enough, they were.

"I'm looking forward to this!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, they would want to be back before too long as they wanted to get their seventh gym badges…apart from Ned, who already had his Volcano Badge.

Together, they set out towards the Sevii Islands.

It was going to be quite a trip.

_Oh dear…it looks like Chris lost against Blaine…it appears using brute force isn't so effective against a genius Pokémon trainer…she'll have to use a different strategy next time._

_I thought it would be good to include a plot twist like that…then again, all the other Pokémon trainers that form our protagonists have lost a Gym battle before…so maybe that's not so surprising._

_In the next chapter, we're going to explore the Sevii Islands…well, three of them lately. I think Islands Four through Seven would be better saved if I write a sequel, since I would have that take place in Johto._

_Sound like a plan?_


	47. Chapter 47: Finding Lostelle

A Typical Pokémon Journey

_In this chapter, Lucy, Jake, Ned, and Chris are going to look for Lostelle…who of course can't stop getting lost. She has a terrible sense of direction._

_However, they're not going to visit Mt. Ember yet…that's going to occur later on…our heroes want to get their Volcano Badges after all._

_Where could Lostelle possibly be? Well, our heroes aren't going to find her by doing absolutely nothing…so they had better get going._

**Chapter 47: Finding Lostelle**

Chris, Ned, Jake, and Lucy arrived at One Island after a surprisingly brief trip. They had to admit…the ship they had used was…fast.

"How many islands are there, anyway?" inquired Jake. Personally he thought that the name was a giveaway, but he wanted to make sure.

"There are seven…but islands four through seven aren't accepting visitors at the moment…apparently they're trying to construct new tourist attractions." explained Lucy.

"That's too bad…" answered Ned.

"But on the plus side, we should be able to visit islands one through three." noted the female Pokémon trainer.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Oddly enough, she did not recall any of these islands being in the original Pokémon Red and Blue…apparently Nintendo wanted to have some add new features to make the game more interesting.

Personally they wondered what Pokémon were native to the Sevii Islands. They seemed to be fairly diverse, to say the very least.

Suddenly, Lucy's Clefairy noticed that there was something that absolutely intrigued her.

Apparently, there was a beach that they could go to find treasure. Personally, Ned hoped that there were girls there that were wearing swimsuits.

But since Chris would likely keep an eye on him, maybe he shouldn't get his hopes up.

Fortunately, they could use a boat to get there.

Immediately, Clefairy pulled out a shovel and began to dig for treasure. Unsurprisingly, she found quite a bit.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"Where did you get that shovel?" inquired Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She had found it by digging in the sand.

"Oh." answered the female Pokémon trainer. For a moment she thought that she had stolen it.

Eventually, Lucy's Clefairy had managed to fill her loot bag. It wouldn't be long until she could repair her spaceship now.

Hopefully she would be able to avoid crashing her spaceship this time.

After a while of digging, everyone had enough treasure to last a lifetime, and they decided that it was time to go elsewhere.

However, they realized that they had a problem when they decided to read the newspaper.

Apparently, Johnny and his gang were up to no good.

Specifically, they were on the headlines.

"Not them again!" exclaimed Jake.

"They don't seem to learn, do they?" questioned Lucy.

"Clefairy…" murmured Lucy's Clefairy. It looked like they were going to have to battle them once again.

Not only that, but the motorcyclists seemed to be more dangerous than ever. They had been leveling up their Pokémon, it seemed.

However, the types of Pokémon they used still seemed to be rather consistent, so perhaps they did not need to adjust their strategy.

But it might be best if they all worked together as a team to take them on. It would be a lot easier that way.

Curious, Ned decided to consult the newspaper to see where they all were. Apparently, they had all gathered together in one location.

Specifically, they were located at Three Island.

However, they also heard that there was a move tutor located at Two Island, and wondered if they should try heading there as well.

It seemed like a good idea…but apparently this particular move tutor was only teaching moves to the three starter Pokémon…and they had to be fully evolved.

Curious, Lucy wondered if it was time to start evolving her Ivysaur.

Fortunately, she had found some Rare Candies at the Treasure Beach…and for some strange reason a Sandshrew.

"Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sandshrew as he buried himself back in the sand.

"That was kind of weird…" noted Lucy.

As it turned out, she had enough to evolve her Ivysaur, who was now a Venusaur.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed Lucy's Venusaur.

Lucy scanned her new Pokémon with her Pokedex.

"Venusaur, the Seed Pokémon. Its plant blooms when it gathers solar energy. As such, it is always on the search for sunlight." explained Lucy's Pokedex.

"You sure have grown since you were a Bulbasaur, haven't you?" questioned Lucy.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed Lucy's Venusaur.

"Well, I guess Chris, Jake, and I should head to that Move Tutor now…" answered the female Pokémon trainer.

"What about me?" inquired Ned.

"You can stay at the beach, I guess…since we're on vacation." noted Chris.

"Yes!" cheered the male Pokémon trainer.

It looked like today was his lucky day.

Immediately, Chris, Lucy, and Jake decided to head to Two Island so that they could teach their Pokémon powerful new techniques.

They were rather excited about it, to say the very least.

"Greetings…" said the Move Tutor.

Chris, Lucy, and Jake sent out their Charizard, Venusaur, and Blastoise respectively.

"Oh, your Pokémon…I may be able to help you." noted the mysterious woman.

Immediately, she taught Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant, and Hydro Cannon…basically it was their lucky day.

However, it appeared that each Pokémon would be exhausted after performing these powerful techniques.

But, they thought it was likely worth it considering how powerful these techniques were. Either that, or they could simply try switching Pokémon after using them.

But it was time to stop relaxing. Johnny needed to be stopped from causing any more trouble.

After picking up Ned, they decided to head to Three Island, where Johnny's goons were hiding.

Apparently, the citizens of Three Island were all frightened of them, as they were hiding inside the Pokémon Center.

"I'd like to see you try to stop us!" exclaimed Johnny.

Sure enough, his comrades were snickering.

Suddenly, he noticed Lucy and Jake.

"You!" bellowed the leader of the gang.

Immediately, he sent his motorcyclists to fight the duo.

However, they were not alone.

As it turned out, Ned and Chris were ready to help.

They decided now would be a good time to test out their new Pokémon abilities…or in Ned's case, give his Pokémon some more experience.

Sure enough, the motorcyclists were sending out all the Pokémon they had.

Chris had her Charizard use Blast Burn…and several Pokémon were knocked out in one move.

However, Charizard was feeling tired shortly afterwards…as the Move Tutor had explained previously.

It was time to switch, apparently.

Chris immediately withdrew her Charizard and sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jiggly!" bellowed the balloon Pokémon.

"You may have defeated some of my gang, but I'll still beat you!" exclaimed Johnny.

"We'll see about that…" noted Chris.

Likewise, Lucy was having her Venusaur use Frenzy Plant.

"Venusaur!" bellowed Lucy's Venusaur.

This proved to be effective…though unfortunately some of the bikers were using poison types.

Since Venusaur needed to gather some more sunlight before she could continue fighting, Lucy decided to withdraw Venusaur and send out her Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It looked like they were doing great.

"Grrr…" murmured Johnny. Why were they losing again? He was getting tired of losing to a bunch of kids…and a teenager.

Jake had his Blastoise use Hydro Cannon, and that was the last of the bikers.

Growling in frustration, Johnny decided maybe it was time to send out his own Pokémon.

He then withdrew Blastoise and sent out his Grimer, since of course she was feeling tired.

But which one should he send out first?

Shrugging, he decided to send out his Magneton.

"Magneton!" exclaimed the electric Pokémon.

"Hmm…those Magnemite are going to wreak havoc on our electric appliances…" noted Jake.

Lucy and Ned frantically hid away their Pokedexes.

Fortunately, the latter had just the Pokémon to deal with that.

Immediately, he sent out his Golem and ordered her to use Earthquake.

This caused Magneton to faint instantly.

Stamping his foot on the ground in frustration, Johnny decided that it was time to send out another Pokémon.

Fortunately, he just so happened to have evolved his Exeggcute, which was now an Exeggutor.

Maybe now it actually stood a chance. He wasn't looking forward to having scrambled eggs for breakfast.

"Go, Exeggutor!" bellowed Johnny.

"Exeggutor!" exclaimed Exeggutor.

"It's too bad it doesn't have arms…" thought the biker. That would be really useful.

On the other hand, it did have three heads, so it was likely a rather intelligent Pokémon…and doubly so considering it was a psychic type. Some dual type combinations were interesting Pokémon like that.

Once again, it was Ned's time to shine.

This time, he decided to send out his Arcanine.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed Ned's Arcanine.

Johnny began to wonder why his opponents all had Pokémon that were super-effective against his. It just wasn't fair. Perhaps he needed to reconsider his Pokémon battling strategies.

Alternatively, he could try getting some better help, considering he was outnumbered four against one at this point.

"Exeggutor, use Psychic!" ordered Johnny. Fortunately, his Pokémon knew techniques that wouldn't be ineffective against fire types, which of course Exeggutors were weak to like most grass Pokémon.

Arcanine immediately collapsed on the floor, though fortunately he had not fainted yet.

"Flamethrower!" ordered Ned.

Unfortunately, Arcanine missed.

"Darn it." thought the boy.

This gave Exeggutor the opportunity to hit Arcanine with Stun Spore.

"Arcanine…" murmured the unfortunate fire Pokémon.

Ned sighed. He was hoping that he could count on Arcanine's speed…but now he couldn't do so considering his Pokémon's situation.

But at least his Pokémon had not fainted yet.

"Try using Flamethrower again!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Arcanine did so. Fortunately, he did not miss, though admittedly he had been slowed down.

"Exeggutor!" bellowed Johnny's Exeggutor. It looked like he had been burned.

Johnny tipped over a motorcycle in frustration.

"Hey!" bellowed the unfortunate biker. He paid a lot of money on that bike!

If only he had insurance.

Once again, Exeggutor tried to hit Arcanine with Psychic, but this time he resisted it.

"Way to go, Arcanine!" exclaimed Ned.

"Arcanine!" cheered the fire Pokémon. He was really getting the hang of things.

Arcanine hit Exeggutor with another Flamethrower, and he fainted.

Suddenly, Johnny remembered that he had a Pokémon that was supereffective against fire Pokémon…and wondered why he hadn't tried it out before.

It was time to send out his Tentacruel.

"Go, Tentacruel!" exclaimed Johnny.

Immediately, Johnny sent out his Tentacruel.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed the water Pokémon.

"That might be a problem…" noted Ned. Last time he checked, water types were effective against fire types.

Maybe it was time for him to switch to a new Pokémon.

But what could he use that would be supereffective against Tentacruel?

Suddenly, Tentacruel hit Arcanine with a Bubblebeam.

"Hey! I wasn't ready to attack yet!" bellowed Ned.

Apparently, Johnny was starting to resort to mean tactics now that it became apparent that he and the Tough Tentacools were losing.

It looked like Ned was going to have to be quick on his feet…and in mind.

Fortunately, he knew what to use against Tentacruel now.

Immediately, he sent out his Raichu…

…only to find that he got hit by a Sludge Bomb as soon as he was sent out.

"Something tells me that he's going to get kicked out of the Pokémon League…" noted Ned. He would not like to face him at the Indigo Plateau…speaking of which, he didn't think he was far from there. He already had seven gym badges.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Raichu had been poisoned by the Sludge Bomb…and of course Johnny's pragmatism.

"Darn it! I hope you're happy with yourself…" stated Ned.

"I sure am!" exclaimed Johnny.

In retaliation, Ned had Raichu hit Tentacruel with a nasty Thunderbolt.

This proved to be effective, as Tentacruel began to thrash about his tentacles.

Suddenly, it occurred to Johnny that maybe he should try switching Pokémon. That way he wouldn't have to worry about super-effective attacks.

Immediately, he decided to withdraw his Tentacruel.

"Huh? What are you sending out now?" inquired Ned.

"You're about to find out." answered Johnny.

As it turned out, he had decided to send out his Pinsir.

"Pinsir!" exclaimed the bug Pokémon.

"Oh, that's right…he still has that particular Pokémon." noted Ned.

Fortunately, it appeared that Raichu wasn't that bad of a choice against Pinsir as well. However, he was proving to be a more difficult opponent than Tentacruel had been.

Suddenly, Pinsir hit Raichu with Guillotine, causing him to faint.

"Yes!" exclaimed Johnny. It looked like had managed to achieve victory for the time-being…even if his opponent still had Pokémon left.

"Guillotine is such a pain in the neck…" noted Ned. Thank goodness it usually wasn't effective.

It looked like he was going to have to try sending out another Pokémon. Pinsir was surprisingly accurate with that technique. Johnny had taught him well.

Shrugging, he decided to send out his Arcanine again and hit Pinsir with Flamethrower.

He succeeded, and Pinsir was significantly injured.

"Pinsir!" exclaimed the bug Pokémon.

Frantically, Johnny ordered Pinsir to use Guillotine again, but Arcanine was too fast.

He hit Pinsir with Flamethrower again, and Pinsir was down for the count.

Perhaps it was time for Johnny to try out his new Pokémon.

"Go, Flareon!" exclaimed Johnny.

"Flareon!" bellowed the fire Pokémon.

"Funny, I do believe my Eevee can evolve into that…" noted Ned.

However, as he had noted previously, his Eevee had not shown interest in evolution. It was kind of ironic considering that he was known as the evolution Pokémon, really.

But if he decided he wanted to remain an Eevee, who was he to judge? On the other hand, none of his other Pokémon had objected to evolution.

Flareon immediately opened fire by using a Fire Blast attack…but fortunately he missed.

"Gee, my new Pokémon is sure turning out to be useful…" murmured Johnny sarcastically.

Arcanine used Take Down, hitting Flareon and knocking him down.

However, he retaliated by using Take Down too, and he scored a critical hit.

Arcanine was starting to feel rather exhausted. At this rate he was going to faint and Ned was going to have no choice but to recall him back into his Pokeball.

"I guess fighting so much has really taken its toll…" noted Ned. It was a good thing that there was a Pokémon Center nearby or he might be in trouble.

Unfortunately, Johnny was pragmatic and cheated once again, causing Arcanine to faint instantly.

"Oh, c'mon!" exclaimed Ned.

Johnny simply snickered.

"You think we should help him?" inquired Lucy.

"Well, we don't want to be like Johnny and cheat during Pokémon matches…" noted Jake.

"Yeah…" answered Chris.

Perhaps it was time to fight fire with fire, thought Ned. Or in this case, fight fire with normal.

This time, he decided to send out his Eevee and see if he could defeat his evolution.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokémon.

Much to his pleasant surprise, Eevee appeared to be a good match for Flareon…as his small size and agility helped him to avoid Flareon's attacks.

Ned had Eevee use Sand-Attack, causing Flareon to be temporarily blinded.

"Wipe that sand out of your eyes!" demanded Johnny.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Eevee hit Flareon with a powerful Take Down attack, causing him to faint.

Frustrated that he had such "worthless" Pokemon, Johnny decided to send out his Tentacruel once again.

If he couldn't pull this off, none of his Pokémon could…since they had already fainted.

"Let's finish this!" bellowed Johnny.

"Oddly enough I was thinking this would take longer…" noted Ned. Johnny sure seemed to have a lot of bikers in his gang nowadays. He didn't even know what their names were.

Immediately, Tentacruel stung Eevee with one of his tentacles, poisoning him.

However, Ned had an idea of how to deal with the jellyfish Pokémon.

He decided to order Eevee to run circles around Tentacruel.

Curious, Johnny wondered what he was doing…

…when suddenly he noticed that Tentacruel was trying to follow Eevee with his tentacles, hoping to sting him again.

This inevitably resulted in Tentacruel's tentacles being tangled up in knots and him being rather dizzy.

"No!" exclaimed Johnny. Nurse Joy was going to have quite a handful dealing with this particular patient…if she was willing to serve him after he decided to take over Three Island.

Reluctantly, he withdrew Tentacruel into his Pokeball.

"Fine! You win! But I'll see you later one day!" exclaimed Johnny.

Once again, his gang decided to leave…

…only to be stopped by Officer Jenny and her comrades.

"You're under arrest!" bellowed Officer Jenny.

"Nooooo!" exclaimed Johnny. It looked like he was going downtown.

He was taken away along with the rest of his gang, so it looked like justice had prevailed.

Now they were free to explore the island.

"I know! Why don't we visit the Joyful Game Corner? I heard that they just opened!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy.

Once again, they went back to Two Island so that they could do something fun…

_A few minutes later…_

"Here we are!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, as they quickly discovered, the man in charge of the Joyful Game Corner wasn't as joyful as the name of his business implied.

"What's the matter?" questioned Ned.

"It's my daughter, Lostelle! She's gone missing…for the third time this month." explained Mr. Joyful.

"You're a terrible father, you know that?" inquired Chris.

"Well, I think a wild Pokémon was responsible this time…would you mind going to Berry Forest? That was where she was seen last…" noted Mr. Joyful.

Jake sighed. It looked like they were going on a rescue mission.

Personally Lostelle reminded him a bit of Lucy…she ended up in a rather bad situation herself thanks to Giovanni…and she was apparently well-off as well.

Immediately, the four of them decided to go to Berry Forest.

_A few more minutes later…_

"Here we are…unsurprisingly, this forest happens to be full of berries." noted Jake.

Shrugging, Chris decided to send out his Snorlax. Apparently, he was going to be in PokeHeaven while he was there. Would he want to leave?

Likewise, Ned decided to send out his Weepinbell, who immediately began to swallow him.

"Please don't!" exclaimed Ned.

Weepinbell let go.

Since she was a grass-type, she would probably be helpful. This is the type of environment that she would know about.

Lucy decided to send out her Clefairy…since she happened to be rather smart, she might be able to help find Lostelle.

Finally, Jake decided to send out his Raticate to see if he could pick up Lostelle's scent…though unfortunately he did not know what she smelled like.

Since they were looking for somebody, they decided that it would be best to split up. They all went in four different locations.

_On Lucy's side of things…_

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. These berries were surprisingly delicious.

"You sure like those berries, don't you, Clefairy?" questioned Lucy.

"Clefairy!" nodded Lucy's Clefairy.

Suddenly, she began to turn blue.

"What the-" said the wealthy girl.

Shortly afterward, she began to fly around the forest.

She then began to grow and shrink in size.

"Oh dear…perhaps you've been eating too many of those." noted Lucy.

Clefairy nodded.

"But at least none of them seem to be poisonous." answered the female Pokémon trainer.

"Clefairy!" smiled Lucy's Clefairy. It looked like she would be safe.

_We now go to check on Chris._

"When are you going to stop eating?" questioned Chris.

"Snorlax!" exclaimed Chris's Snorlax. He was eating everything in sight. In fact, some of the things he was eating weren't even Berries.

Miraculously, he was not making himself ill from all the food he was eating.

"Maybe I should give him a diet instructor…" thought the teenage girl. If there was anyone on her team that needed one, it was probably Snorlax.

On the other hand, he already appeared to be in good health…and his Body Slam wouldn't be nearly as devastating if he weren't so heavy.

Eventually, Snorlax fell asleep.

Sighing, Chris decided to recall Snorlax as he wasn't going to be that much help.

Perhaps it was time to send out her Jigglypuff.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris.

"Jigglypuff!" bellowed Chris's Jigglypuff.

Once again, she decided to resume her search.

_Now we're going to check on Ned._

Unfortunately for Ned, he had reached a dead end in the Berry Forest. It looked like he was going to have to turn back.

However, Weepinbell noticed something that intrigued her.

As it turned out, there was a Leaf Stone at the end of the forest.

"Would you look at that?" inquired Ned.

Personally he wondered why Weepinbell was interested in it.

Shrugging, he decided to put it in Weepinbell's mouth and see what happened.

The juices in Weepinbell's body began to boil…and suddenly, she began to evolve.

As it turned out, she was now a Victreebel.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ned. He was rather surprised at the occurrence.

Then again, considering that Weepinbell was a grass-type Pokémon, he shouldn't be too surprised that she would evolve in such a matter.

Ned scanned Victreebel with his Pokedex.

"Victreebel, the Flycatcher Pokémon. It is said to live in jungles…however, nobody has ever gone there and returned." said Ned's Pokedex.

Ned gulped.

Happy to have evolved, she once again began to swallow Ned.

"I'm starting to wonder if Lostelle is the only person that needs to be rescued!" exclaimed the unfortunate Pokémon trainer.

_Now let's check on Jake…this is going to be a bit more suspenseful._

As it turned out, Jake was the one to find Lostelle, who was cowering in a corner. Apparently, she was quite frightened, because there was sweat coming down her face, which was as pale as a sheet…or a Seel.

"There you are! What's the matter?" asked Jake.

"It's a wild Hypno! He won't leave me alone!" bellowed Lostelle.

"What?" inquired the preteen Pokémon trainer.

"Here he comes!" exclaimed the unfortunate girl.

"Hypno…" murmured the wild Hypno.

Curious, Jake wondered if he should try to battle the Hypno.

Since he was currently trying to hypnotize Lostelle, he decided now would be a good time to try a sneak attack.

Immediately, he had Raticate attack using Hyper Fang.

This worked surprisingly well. Hypno collapsed and dropped his pendant.

This gave Jake the opportunity to toss a Pokeball.

This worked, and Hypno was caught.

"Thank goodness…" said Lostelle.

Jake sent out his new Hypno shortly afterwards.

"Why did you attack that girl?" questioned Jake.

"Hypno!" exclaimed Jake's latest Pokémon.

"What? You wanted to hypnotize her to see if she could act like a Pokémon? That would be rather entertaining and goofy to watch…but I still don't think you should have done that…" said Jake.

"Hypno…" murmured Jake's Hypno.

"Next time don't harass unfortunate children, alright?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt.

Hypno nodded.

Jake withdrew Hypno into his Pokeball.

"Thank goodness…" said Lostelle.

"Let's go home, shall we?" inquired Jake.

Lostelle nodded.

_A few minutes later…_

"Everybody! I managed to find Lostelle!" exclaimed Jake.

"Hopefully her father will take better care of her this time." noted Chris.

"I'm so glad she's alright!" bellowed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy. She heard that some Clefairies had trouble keeping track of their young as well.

"My Weepinbell evolved into a Victreebel…" said Ned.

"She did? Well, congratulations…I managed to catch a Hypno." noted Jake.

Personally he wondered what he should test it on. Perhaps the Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island, also known as Blaine? That seemed like a good idea.

_A few minutes later, at the Joyful Game Corner…_

"Thank goodness you found my daughter! I appreciate it so much!" exclaimed Mr. Joyful.

"Why can't you keep better track of me?" asked Lostelle. Things had been so much easier back when their mother was still alive.

"I promise! I'm not letting you out of my sigh-where'd she go?" inquired the man.

Chris sweatdropped.

"She's right behind my Clefairy." explained Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Maybe she should move out of the way so that Mr. Joyful could see her a bit better.

"As a reward, you may play games at my Game Corner anytime you want!" exclaimed Mr. Joyful.

"That might be fun." noted Jake.

After saying their farewells, they decided that it was time to leave…though they might return later. They heard that Mt. Ember was opening soon.

Little did they know that there was a powerful Pokémon living on top…one that Blaine had met before in the past.

_I hope you liked that chapter…because Chris is going to try rematching Blaine…and of course, Jake and Lucy are going to try battling him as well._

_Once they all have seven badges, they'll be ready to challenge Giovanni…but unfortunately he still won't be at his gym. They'll have to find something else to do until then. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. But I assure you that the wait will be worth it._


	48. Chapter 48: Fighting Fire With Fire

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter...well, guess what. We're going to see Lucy and Jake fight Blaine...and of course, we're going to see a rematch between Chris and Blaine. Won't that be fun?_

**Chapter 48: Fighting Fire With Fire**

After their vacation on the Sevii Islands was over, Lucy and Jake decided that they should get back to the Pokemon League. They didn't think it would be too long before the tournament started...though perhaps they simply hadn't been keeping track of time.

Immediately, they entered the Cinnabar Gym, where Blaine was waiting for them.

"Greetings! I see that there are two of you..." noted Blaine.

"Yeah...we both want to battle you..." explained Jake.

"Well then...in order to decide who gets to go first...why don't you answer a question for me?" asked the fire Pokemon trainer.

"Alright..." answered Lucy. That seemed rather fair.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she wondered who would answer the question first. Granted, she wouldn't wait going after Jake, but still.

"Here is your question...I'm thinking of a Pokemon with a fiery tail, orange skin, and just so happens to be a reptile." stated Blaine.

"Hmm..." thought Jake. He thought that he had seen that kind of Pokemon before...but where had he?

"I know! It's a Charmander!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Correct...though i would have also accepted Charizard. You get to go first." stated Blaine.

"Woohoo!" cheered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Good luck out there, Lucy." said Jake.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." cheered Lucy.

Knowing that Blaine specialized in fire Pokemon, Lucy thought that perhaps it would be best to send out a Pokemon that was effective against them.

But what Pokemon did she have that happened to be super effective? She needed to come up with a strategy if she wanted to defeat Blaine.

Of course, she wouldn't be surprised if Blaine was a strategist too considering how smart he was. They didn't call him a quiz master for nothing.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had a water Pokemon.

"Oh, that's right..." stated Lucy.

Immediately, she sent out her Golduck.

"Golduck!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"You're using a water Pokemon? I applaud you for doing so...however, don't expect this battle to be a pushover." warned Blaine.

"I didn't think it would be..." answered Lucy. Sometimes battling Gym Leaders was hard...though it did get easier as she went along.

Immediately, Blaine decided to send out his Ponyta.

However, it quickly became apparent that his Ponyta wasn't going to last long.

Quickly, Golduck hit Ponyta with a Bubblebeam, causing her to fall over.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

In retaliation, she tried to hit Golduck with a Flamethrower...but he used his psychic powers to stop it.

Golduck hit Ponyta with another Bubblebeam, and that was it for Ponyta.

"I see that you're an experienced Pokemon trainer..." stated Blaine.

"I sure am! I've already got six gym badges!" cheered Lucy.

"Clef airy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. They had worked hard to get them, but it was totally worth it. If they managed to defeat Blaine, there would be only one Gym Leader left to go. However, they still had no idea who the Viridian Gym Leader was. It could be anyone...so long as they were a resident of Kanto.

This time, Blaine decided to send out his Ninetales to deal with Golduck.

Once again, Golduck tried using his psychic powers...but it appeared that Ninetales was resistant to it, due to having psychic powers himself.

It appeared that psychic powers weren't going to do the trick this time.

Golduck tried using Bubblebeam again, but Ninetales countered by using Flamethrower.

Unfortunately, the Flamethrower was bursting Golduck's bubble...literally.

The Flamethrower got through, and Golduck got scorched.

"Hang in there!" demanded Lucy.

Fortunately, Golduck managed to disable Ninetales' Flamethrower, meaning that he couldn't make him a roast Golduck anymore.

Ninetales tried using the move again...but all that came out was smoke.

"I'm rather impressed..." noted Blaine. Lucy was not as airheaded as her heiress status would leave people to believe.

This time, Golduck was successfully able to hit Ninetales with Bubblebeam...but it didn't quite do the job.

In retaliation, Ninetales hit Golduck with a Psychic of her own.

"Golduck!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

And as luck would have it, Golduck ended up being confused.

Golduck ended up striking himself with his own Bubblebeam, and was trapped inside a bubble.

"Golduck!" bellowed the trapped water Pokemon.

Ninetales then burst the bubble, causing Golduck to faint.

It looked like Lucy was going to have to send out another Pokemon.

Withdrawing her Golduck, Lucy wondered what Pokemon she should use next. Surely there had to be a Pokemon that she could use against Ninetales effectively.

Curious, she noticed that Blaine's Ninetales reminded her of Vulpix, and decided that she would use that Pokemon.

Immediately, she decided to send out her Vulpix.

"Vulpix!" exclaimed the fox Pokemon.

However, it quickly became apparent that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea. By the looks of it, Ninetales was bigger and stronger.

"Hmm..." thought Lucy.

Blaine noticed this as well, and decided to do something that might make Lucy's life easier.

"If you can answer this question correctly...i'll give you a Fire Stone so that you can evolve your Vulpix!" exclaimed Blaine.

"Really?" asked Lucy.

Blaine nodded. "Only if you answer the correctly though..."

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Hopefully the question didn't turn out to be too difficult.

"How many islands are there in the Sevii Islands?" asked Blaine.

"There are seven, right?" inquired Lucy.

"That's correct!" answered the fire Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Blaine tossed a Fire Stone and Lucy caught it.

She then gave it to Vulpix, who proceeded to evolve.

When the evolution process was over, Vulpix was now a Ninetales.

"Ninetales!" exclaimed Lucy's new Ninetales.

Hopefully, this would even the playing field. Lucy didn't want her Vulpix to evolve for no reason.

Fortunately, it appeared that the two Pokemon were now equally matched.

"This battle is getting awfully interesting..." stated Jake. However, he wondered if Blaine was going to ask questions like that during their gym battle. It wouldn't surprise him.

Perhaps he should study a bit. That way he would gain an advantage against Blaine.

Eventually, Lucy managed to gain the upper hand against Blaine's Ninetales by using Confuse Ray.

This allowed Lucy's Ninetales to finally finish Blaine's Ninetales off with a Psychic.

"Not bad...not bad at all! But I've still got two Pokemon left..." stated Blaine.

"Fair enough..." answered Lucy.

Immediately, Blaine sent out his Arcanine...who unfortunately was proving too fast for Ninetales.

On the other hand, he was proving to be rather sensitive to Ninetales' Psychic, although Flamethrower wasn't particularly effective.

Suddenly, Arcanine used Take Down to hit Ninetales.

"Ninetales!" exclaimed Lucy's Ninetales.

However, he fainted in the process.

"That was kind of embarrassing, wasn't it?" asked Lucy.

"Sometimes that happens..." answered Blaine.

However, Lucy noticed that Ninetales had worn down. Apparently, she wasn't going to last long against Blaine's last Pokemon.

Immediately, Blaine sent out his Rapidash...who like Arcanine was proving to be rather agile.

"Hmm..." thought Lucy. Maybe she needed a Pokemon that was faster.

Perhaps she could use her Diglett? He seemed rather agile.

Unfortunately for Ninetales, Rapidash managed to knock her out using a Stomp.

"Two more Pokemon left to go...I suppose." said Lucy.

Immediately, she decided to send out her Dugtrio, who was now playing Whack A Mole with Rapidash.

"Dug trio!" exclaimed Lucy's Dugtrio.

Shrugging, she decided to have Dugtrio use Fissure.

This worked surprisingly well. Rapidash fell into the Fissure and fainted.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Blaine.

immediately, he handed Lucy her badge.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Lucy.

Shortly afterwards, both of them went to heal their Pokemon.

When Nurse Joy was done with them, Blaine was ready to battle Jake.

"Are you ready?" asked Blaine.

Jake nodded. He had been looking forward to this.

For his first Pokemon, he decided to send out his Machamp.

"Mach amp!" exclaimed the super strong Pokemon.

As such, Blaine decided to send out his Ponyta.

"Ponyta!" bellowed the fire Pokemon.

Fortunately for Machamp, as soon as Ponyta ran towards Machamp, Machamp was able to grab her.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

This gave Machamp the opportunity to follow up with Seismic Toss, sending her crashing into the ground.

"Ponyta..." murmured Ponyta.

"Gosh..." thought Jake.

Realizing that Ponyta wasn't going to be able to battle Machamp anymore, Blaine decided that he would send out his Arcanine next.

Unsurprisingly, Arcanine was proving to be a more difficult opponent. It was running circles across Machamp.

"Mach amp!" exclaimed the fighting Pokemon. She was getting dizzy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Machamp was now confused. She punched herself in the face.

"I hate it when my Pokemon do that..." thought Jake.

This gave Arcanine the opportunity to hit Machamp with Extremespeed.

"Macha mach!" bellowed Machamp.

This made Machamp feel rather tired. However, this did not stop her from striking Arcanine in the nose.

"Arcanine!" bellowed Arcanine.

Blaine frowned. It looked like Machamp may have found a weak point.

Fortunately for him, before Machamp could exploit it, Arcanine managed to make Machamp faint with a well-placed Flamethrower. It looked like Jake was simply going to have to try to use another Pokemon.

But what should he use?

"What Pokemon should I use next..." thought Jake.

Suddenly, he remembered his Blastoise.

"Oh, right! Of course!" exclaimed Jake.

Then again, maybe that should be his trump card. Perhaps he should try using a different Pokemon first.

For now, he was going to use his Grimer.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

"Grime!" bellowed the poison Pokemon.

Immediately, Arcanine recoiled from the smell.

Jake smiled. It looked like Grimer was going to be an effective choice against Arcanine.

Now that Lucy thought of it...didn't her father have an Arcanine?

"It's probably a coincidence..." noted Lucy. Then again, she wouldn't be surprised if her future husband turned out to be like her father. It was a bit of a generation from generation to thing.

Seizing his opportunity, Jake had Grimer use Sludge Bomb.

Unsurprisingly, this resulted with Arcanine being poisoned.

"Arcanine..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

Arcanine tried using Flamethrower on Grimer, but he transformed into a puddle to avoid it. Being made of a sludge-like substance had it perks, Jake must admit.

Grimer hit Arcanine with another Sludge Bomb, and he was no longer able to fight.

"That is one tough Grimer..." remarked Blaine.

"I know..." answered Jake.

"Did you know that the first Grimer was born when toxic waste in a stream was exposed to X-Rays from the moon?" inquired the man.

"Really?" asked the former Team Rocket Grunt. Now that he thought of it, he had seen his Grimer stare at the moon sometimes, though he wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps that was it?

"I wonder how the first Muk was created..." stated the Team Rocket Grunt.

"Well, I heard that not long after they were created, they started heading towards factories..." noted Blaine.

"Yeah, that makes sense..." said Jake.

"Grime!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer. He loves toxic waste from factories!

Personally he wondered if the Grimers were going to create an army one day. Personally he wasn't looking forward to that, considering that Grimers and Muks tended to leave behind a puddle of sludge wherever they went.

Something told him that environmentalists weren't too fond of them. But at least they made good Pokemon companions if you could tolerate their smell.

Still, he was glad that he kept his Grimer in a Pokeball where he wouldn't bother anyone else.

Arcanine eventually fainted from the poison, prompting Blaine to try sending out his Ninetales.

"Ninetales!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Sometimes tells me that Ninetales is going to put up a fight..." thought Jake.

His thoughts were confirmed when Ninetales hit Grimer with a Psychic attack.

"Grime!" bellowed the poison Pokemon. Unfortunately, psychic pokemon and poison pokemon were not the best of friends.

If Ninetales kept that up, he would not be battling Blaine along with his Pokemon trainer much longer.

"Maybe I should switch..." noted Jake.

Still, he wondered what Pokemon would be effective against Ninetales. He needed to think.

"Hmm..." thought the former member of Team Rocket.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

Immediately, he sent out his new Hypno. Hopefully he would be able to resist Ninetales' psychic powers.

This worked surprisingly well. Hypno hardly felt Ninetales' Psychic, and did not take much damage from Flamethrower either.

Apparently, his Sp. Defense was coming in handy.

This gave Jake the opportunity to have Hypno put Ninetales to sleep, who began to snore.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jake then had Hypno eat Ninetales' dreams.

Since Ninetales wash having a particular dream (about nine of them at once, in fact), this was devastating.

Ninetales fainted, and Blaine was forced to use his last Pokemon.

"Go, Rapidash!" exclaimed Blaine.

Immediately, Blaine sent out his Rapidash.

"Rapid rapid!" exclaimed Rapidash.

Unfortunately, unlike Ninetales, Rapidash did not rely on special attacks to attack her opponents, so it looked like Hypno's Sp. Defense was not going to be helpful this time.

Still, he wanted to see how well he would do.

"Try using Hypnosis again, Hypno!" ordered Jake.

Unfortunately, before Hypno could swing his pendulum, Rapidash kicked him in the face, causing him to drop it.

"Uh-oh..." said Jake.

"Hyp hyp hyp!" bellowed Jake's Hypno, trying to pick it up.

Showing no mercy, Rapidash then hit Jake's Hypno with her horn.

"Hypo!" exclaimed Hypno. That was a critical hit if he ever saw one. Of course, he had been a wild Pokemon up until recently. Apparently, kidnapping a young girl attracted people's attention. To be fair, he wasn't aware of all the panic it would cause. It had even made the news.

Rapidash then finished Hypno off with a Flamethrower.

With Hypno down for the count, and Blaine only having one Pokemon, Jake decided that he was going to send out his trump card.

"Go, Blastoise!" exclaimed Jake.

"Blast!" bellowed the tortoise Pokemon.

Once again, Rapidash hitting her opponent with her horn...

...but this time, it simply bounced off of Blastoise's shell.

She tried stomping, but it had the same effect.

In retaliation, Jake had Blastoise hit Rapidash with Surf.

This proved to be super effective, even making Rapidash's flames go out for a moment.

"Just one more shot..." stated Jake.

Rapidash tried hitting Blastoise with Flamethrower, but she withdrew into her shell to negate the damage.

Blastoise then hit Rapidash with another Surf, and Rapidash fainted.

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Blaine.

Immediately, he handed Jake his Volcano Badge.

"Just one more badge to go..." stated Jake.

However, he had heard a rumor that his former employer was in charge of the Viridian Gym.

Personally he didn't believe that was true. Why would Giovanni be in charge of such an establishment?

Still, he couldn't help but feel a bit worried. If they wanted the last badge, they might need to confront him once again.

But since he and his friends had managed to defeat him twice before, maybe they could do so again.

At that very moment, Chris arrived in the gym. Apparently, she wanted a rematch with Blaine.

"Are you here to challenge me again?" asked Blaine.

"Yes. And this time, things will be different." answered Chris.

Blaine nodded, and he got ready to fight Chris once again. Personally he wondered if Chris would be correct. She seemed more determined this time.

Once again, Blaine decided to send out his Ponyta.

In retaliation, Chris decided to send out her Onix.

This proved to be effective, as none of Ponyta's attacks were effective on damaging Onix.

On the other hand, Onix's Rock Slide was proving to be very effective indeed.

Eventually, he got a critical hit, and Ponyta fainted.

Smirking with satisfaction, Chris realized that she had the upper hand for the time being.

But she knew that she didn't want to be too arrogant. Blaine had managed to beat her once, even if it did turn out to be a close fight.

Perhaps she needed to change her strategy.

Once again, Blaine was sending out Ninetales.

Chris realized that maybe it was best to send out a Pokemon that was incapable of touching his tails in case anything happened...but what Pokemon did she have that could do that?

Suddenly, she remembered she had a Gengar.

"Now I remember!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, Chris withdrew her Onix and sent out her Gengar.

"Gengar!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Ninetales did not find Gengar to be intimidating.

However, his Shadow Ball attacks appeared to be effective.

Immediately, Gengar transformed himself into Ninetales' shadow.

Curious, Ninetales wondered where Gengar had gone.

His question was answered when Gengar went right up to him and gave him quite a fright when he revealed himself.

Seizing the opportunity of surprise, Gengar hit Ninetales with the biggest Shadow Ball he could muster.

This apparently did the job, as Ninetales may have fainted from the spot. Whether he fainted from fear or from the actual attack, Chris wasn't quite sure. Either way, it looked like she was doing better. She might actually win this time.

"Go, Arcanine!" exclaimed Blaine.

However, she realized that Arcanine would not be as scared of Gengar as easily, due to the fact that he was rather brave.

Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about Gengar being trapped in a Fire Spin, due to his ability to go through virtually everything, even walls.

Personally Chris wondered what that would be like. It might take some time getting used to.

Maybe she would become a ghost herself...if she ended up meeting a sticky end. Personally she would like to be at least eighteen before she bade farewell to life.

Once again, she decided to switch out her Gengar for her Onix.

Arcanine retaliated by using Flamethrower. Though it didn't do much damage, Onix did end up being burned.

Personally she was a bit surprised. She was under the impression that Onix did not burn easily.

On the other hand, it did not appear to be a serious burn. However, she knew that Onix would not suffer reduced attack damage. That was what burns tended to do to Pokemon, after all.

Immediately, she instructed Onix to use Earthquake, knocking Arcanine off his feet.

She then followed by having Onix use Rock Slide, since she knew that was super effective as well.

However, not long after she did so, Onix fainted.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Chris. Now she was going to have to try using a different Pokemon.

Personally, she wondered what Pokemon would be useful against a canine.

"Let's see how well an Arcanine does against a Tauros..." thought Chris.

Immediately, she sent out her Tauros to fight Arcanine.

"Go, Tauros!" bellowed Chris.

"Tauros taur!" exclaimed Tauros.

Immediately, she had Tauros use Take Down to hit Arcanine.

However, Arcanine retaliated by using Take Down as well.

Both attacks collided, and both Pokemon fainted.

"Well, this was rather strange..." acknowledged Chris.

Shrugging, she decided to send out her Gengar to fight Rapidash.

Sure enough, Blaine did send out Rapidash. It was his last Pokemon, after all.

Fortunately for Chris, Rapidash's stomping attacks and her horn did not hurt Gengar at all. They went directly through him.

Immediately, she instructed Gengar to terrify Rapidash...a task which he succeeded. Her fire subsequently went out.

She then followed by having Gengar use Confuse Ray.

Gengar did so, causing Rapidash to become confused and hurt herself.

Seizing her opportunity, Chris then had Gengar use Shadow Ball.

Rapidash then fainted.

"Yes! I did it!" cheered Chris.

"Congratulations...I see that you've been strategizing since the last time I fought. Well, I'm proud to give you this!" exclaimed Blaine.

Immediately, Blaine gave Chris a Volcano Badge.

"Yes!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's great...but i wonder where we're going to get our last gym badge..." questioned Ned.

"Me too..." answered Chris.

"I heard that the Viridian Gym was going to open soon..." noted Blaine.

"Oh really?" asked the bespectacled boy.

"You might want to try doing something until then..." suggested the fire Pokemon Gym Leader.

Immediately, Chris and Ned went outside the building, where Lucy and Jake were waiting for them.

Apparently, they were waiting for the Viridian Gym to open as well.

Currently, Lucy was examine some tourist attractions. Apparently, there were a group of islands known as the Seafoam Islands, as well as an abandoned Power Plant. Mt. Ember had opened for tourists as well back in the Sevii Islands.

Personally they weren't sure which one they should visit first. Shrugging, they decided to visit the Seafoam Islands first.

Hopefully it would be a pleasant experience.

Little did they know that there was a Legendary Pokemon living there...one of three, to be precise.

_It looks like our heroes are going to the Seafoam Islands while they wait for the Viridian Gym to reopen._

_And of course, they're going to be encountering one of the three Legendary Birds. Can you guess which one? You should probably know already...I'm going in the order of their names, so our heroes will be heading to the Power Plant after this._

_And of course, our protagonists will be catching some Pokemon...because why not? That's why they're here, after all, to hunt Pokemon so that they can get ready for their next Gym Battle._

_And yes, it's going to be the last Pokemon Gym Battle in the fanfic...though I might write a sequel. You never know._

_I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter! Peace!_


	49. Chapter 49: One Blizzard

A Typical Pokemon Journey

_In this chapter, our protagonists are heading to Seafoam Islands. I do believe that I alluded to this before, did I not? Well, they're going to meet one of the Legendary Birds! How about that. And yes, they're going to be meeting Articuno. You probably know that already by now. But that's not going to be the only thing that happens in this chapter...I figured our protagonists might as well catch a few Pokemon while they're there. I know that Seels are particularly common at Seafoam Islands, since their blubber makes them resistant to the cold. So one of our heroes are going to be catching one...try to guess._

**Chapter 49: One Blizzard**

"So, these are the Seafoam Islands?" questioned Jake.

"They're awfully cold..." noted Lucy. She recalled her mother telling her to dress warmly out in cold weather. She didn't want her to catch a cold out there in the wilderness.

She hadn't caught a cold yet though, so for the time being she appeared to be fine.

"Clefairy..." shivered Lucy's Clefairy. It was times like this when she wished that she was an Ice Pokemon. On the other hand, she was a bit used to the cold since she used to live in outer space.

"Yeah..." acknowledged Ned.

"Are you kidding? It's been colder than this during the summer!" exclaimed Chris. Personally, the cold did not bother in the slightest, even if her friends disagreed with her.

"I'm not sure if that's true." answered Jake. It felt to him like he was inside a refrigerator...though admittedly he had never been locked inside one. It had happened to his father once though. It was rather embarrassing.

Once again, Chris had managed to shrug off something that the others had not.

"Whatever you say..." stated the young boy. Personally he was under the impression that they should have dressed accordingly.

"Personally I wonder what we're going to find here..." questioned Jake.

"It could be something interesting..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, Chris went inside to investigate.

However, there appeared to be nothing out of the ordinary inside.

"Huh. I was expecting more than this..." noted Chris.

Suddenly, she heard what appeared to be someone kissing.

"Huh? Is someone else here?" asked the teenage girl. For a moment she thought that they were alone on the Seafoam Islands. But it appeared that they had some sort of company, whether it was human or Pokemon.

As it turned out, it was the latter...a wild Pokemon that oddly had blonde hair and big lips that reminded Chris of a human's. Was this some sort of Pokemon hybrid? She hoped that there wasn't a mad scientist living on these islands that was making that sort of thing. Some of them did some really terrible things, especially those that were working with Team Rocket.

"Jynx!" exclaimed the mysterious Pokemon.

"What kind of Pokemon is this?" questioned Chris. She looked surprisingly human-like for a Pokemon, though she did not appear to be unusual otherwise.

Immediately, she pulled out her Pokedex to investigate the matter.

"Jynx, the Humanshape Pokemon! It talks in a strange, incomprehensible language! It is known for its weird wiggling that makes people dance!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

"The Humanshape Pokemon? That makes sense..." noted Chris. Personally she reminded her a bit of Jake's Machamp.

Hopefully, Jynx would not make her unlucky. She wanted to keep winning Pokemon battles...especially after she had to rematch Blaine to get her seventh Gym Badge. Perhaps her luck had hiccuped.

Sure enough, Jynx was attempting to make Chris dance. For a Pokemon, she was very talented at dance moves.

However, Chris wasn't in the mood for dancing...though she did find Jynx's dancing to be rather impressive.

"Sorry, I'm not dancing without a dance partner." stated Chris.

"Jynx..." murmured Jynx sadly.

"One of my Pokemon might want to dance though..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Personally, she wasn't quite sure which one would want to do so.

Shrugging, she decided to send out her Jigglypuff to see if she wanted to dance with Jynx. Maybe she knew how to tango.

As it turned out, she did know how to do the tango, wherever she may have learned it. It was nice to have a dance partner.

Immediately, the two of them began to dance together.

Apparently, Jynx was satisfied, as she now wanted to be Chris's Pokemon.

"That's it? No Pokemon battle?" asked Chris. Personally she was expecting one...but apparently that wasn't going to happen today. Who was the next Pokemon trainer that she was going to face, anyway? Was it going to be Jerry again?

"Jynx?" asked Jynx.

"Well, I would appreciate it you could show me what you could do before I caught you...what type of Pokemon are you, anyway?" asked Chris. Judging from the fact that she was in the Seafoam Islands, Jynx happened to be an ice type.

She responded by using an Ice Punch to smash a nearby boulder. She then blew a kiss, causing Jigglypuff to feel dizzy.

"Jiggly jiggly..." murmured Chris's Jigglypuff. Why was she seeing double all of a sudden?

"Well, that Ice Punch was rather impressive...but why are you kissing other Pokemon? You hardly know Jigglypuff..." questioned Chris.

Jynx shrugged. It was just her instinct, she supposed.

"Well, you have me convinced. I'll let you be my Pokemon." said Chris. Personally she wasn't expecting a Pokemon that liked to dance, but she wouldn't ask too many questions. Aside from a quick Pokedex scan, she would catch a Pokemon first and ask questions later.

Immediately, Chris caught Jynx in her Pokeball. Oddly enough, it did not make the Pokeball any colder. Apparently, they were designed to accustom whatever Pokemon that went into the Pokeball whether they were fire and ice.

Apparently, Silph Co. had spent quite some time designing them...which might explain why there were so many Voltorbs these days.

Curious, Ned noticed that Chris was taking a while in the Seafoam Islands, and decided to go look for her. He wouldn't want anything to happen her. She was his friend. What if she had ended up being frozen? Hopefully he could find a Pokemon that he could use to thaw her out.

Suddenly, he noticed a familiar face.

"I'm selling ice cubes! Just 300 Pokedollars!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman. It appeared that he was up to his old tricks.

"This place is full of ice...why would people buy from you?" asked Ned.

"They're rare, vintage ice! They are priceless!" bellowed the fisherman.

"They look just like the ice that I can find here..." stated the boy.

"Just buy already! I don't have all day here!" exclaimed the con artist impatiently.

At that very moment, a wild Seel noticed the ice cubes. As it turned out, he was rather hungry, and his stomach was grumbling.

Immediately, he began to eat the ice cubes from the Magikarp Salesman's bucket while he wasn't looking. They proved to be a rather decent snack. He particularly enjoyed the flavor they had.

However, Ned was paying attention.

"Hey, buddy! Listen-"

"Not now! I'm selling ice cubes! I might get some more customers here...though admittedly this place is rather remote..." acknowledged the Magikarp Fisherman. Perhaps he should try elsewhere if he wanted to make some cash.

"You might want to-"

"Stop talking to me!"

"If you would just listen-"

"Fine! But just for one second!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

However, it was already too late. The Seel had already eaten all the ice in the bucket...which as it turned out was rather delicious. Perhaps the Magikarp Salesman was on to something after all.

Immediately, the Seel let out a burp, catching the salesman' attention.

"Noooo! You ruined my business!" screamed the fisherman. Where else was he going to get such "priceless" ice cubes?

"Seel?" asked the seal Pokemon. Was something wrong?

"That's it! You're going to pay!" bellowed the Magikarp Fisherman.

Immediately, he sent out his Poliwrath to attack Seel, who immediately cracked his knuckles.

"Maybe I should help..." noted Ned. He didn't like it when someone decided to Growlithepile a defenseless Pokemon. That was just plain cruel.

As such, he decided to send out his Victreebel to defend the seal Pokemon. It was time to be a hero once again...even if it was for the sake of one Pokemon.

However, Victreebel didn't seem to like the cold too much. She was a bit smaller than he remembered. Since Victreebels lived in the jungle, they likely preferred a warm environment.

"Victreebel..." said the pitcher Pokemon.

"Are you going to be alright?" asked Ned, feeling a bit concerned about his friend.

Victreebel then noticed Ned, and she felt warm again.

"Victree!" cheered the grass Pokemon, leaping in the air.

"I'll take that as a yes." stated the boy. If Victreebel didn't get excited when she made eye contact with her Pokemon trainer, then he knew that something was really wrong.

Curious, Ned scanned Poliwrath with his Pokedex.

"Poliwrath, the Tadpole Pokemon. It is able to swim faster than an Olympic swimmer, and its muscles never tire." read Ned's Pokedex.

"That's awfully impressive." noted Ned.

Since Poliwrath was currently approaching the helpless Seel, Ned decided that he might as well try a sneak attack.

Immediately, he instructed Victreebel to use Sludge Bomb.

This seemed to be rather effective, since Poliwrath had been poisoned.

"Do you mind? I'm busy pummeling this Pokemon for ruining my business!" yelled the Magikarp Salesman.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." answered Ned.

"Fine then! If you want us to fight once more, then so be it!" bellowed the fisherman.

"I suppose this probably isn't going to be our last battle..." acknowledged the boy. Perhaps the Magikarp Salesman had become his rival? He did seem to be the target of his scams nowadays.

Immediately, Poliwrath went to punch Ned's Victreebel...

...but he got his hand stuck in her pitcher.

"Poliwrath!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. It looked like he was stuck. Maybe he should have aimed elsewhere.

Shrugging, Ned ordered Victreebel to use Giga Drain.

This did the job, and Poliwrath fainted.

"Darn it! Well, I guess I'm just going to have to use a different Pokemon...maybe I'll use a Pokemon that won't get stuck so easily..." noted the Magikarp salesman.

"That seems like a good idea." agreed Ned.

This time, he decided to send out his Seadra so that he could attack Victreebel from a distance.

"Seadra!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Wasting no time, he had Seadra attack Victreebel with Bubblebeam.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed Victreebel. Who would have thought that bubbles could hurt you?

Now that Ned thought of it...didn't Misty's sisters have this sort of Pokemon with them? He was wondering up until now where he could find such a Pokemon.

Apparently, this was the place...assuming this Seel wasn't the only one in the area. It seemed most likely that there were others nearby. Maybe he would find their evolution if he was lucky.

At this point, Seel was currently hiding behind a rock so that the salesman did not find him. It was good that Ned had come to his defense. All he wanted was something to eat.

Once again, Ned had Victreebel use Sludge Bomb...

...but she missed.

This time, Seadra used Twister, spinning Victreebel around.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

Though she withstood the attack, she was still a bit dizzy.

This time, Ned had Victreebel use Giga Drain, causing Seadra to become exhausted.

"Seadra..." murmured Seadra. Victreebel had literally sucked the life out of her.

In retaliation, she used Bubblebeam...but there were fewer bubbles than before.

Ned then had Victreebel hit Seadra again, and she fainted.

Grumbling in frustration, the Magikarp Salesman sent out his Gyarados. It looked like Ned had gotten a two-for-one deal with his Victreebel. Perhaps he should try getting a Pokemon that wasn't water-type.

Of course, that would be fairly difficult considering that the only Pokemon he ever obtained were from fishing. He never bothered checking tall grass.

Suddenly, he remembered that he had taught his Gyarados Flamethrower to help make up for his weaknesses. Perhaps he wasn't as much of a disadvantage than he had thought.

"Use Flamethrower!" ordered the Magikarp Salesman.

"Flamethrower?!" exclaimed Ned. Who would have thought that Gyarados would know a fire type move?

It was rather astounding.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. Fortunately, since Gyarados was not a fire type Pokemon, this did not hurt as much as it could have. But it was still a very unpleasant experience.

Perhaps it was time for Ned to change Pokemon...though admittedly it did make her a bit depressed considering that he was her Pokemon trainer.

But maybe it was time for her to sit on the sidelines.

"Return, Victreebel!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned immediately withdrew his Victreebel. It was time for him to send out his Raichu. He knew how effective Raichus were against Gyarados. He had in fact tried it before.

Sure enough, he withdrew Victreebel and sent out his Raichu.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

in retaliation, the Magikarp Salesman had Gyarados use Earthquake.

"Earthquake too?!" bellowed Ned. Somebody really knew about Gyarados's weaknesses.

"Raichu!" bellowed Raichu. He had nearly fallen on his face!

But on the plus side, he was still standing, though admittedly he wouldn't be much longer if that kept up.

"Use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Raichu did so, and Gyarados fainted on the spot.

"How am I supposed to win now?" asked the Magikarp Salesman.

"Maybe you should try a more honest business? That way we won't have to keep fighting...unless it's a friendly sport, in which case I suppose i'm all up for it..." questioned Ned.

"You're right! How would you like some Pokeballs?" inquired the salesman.

"That's awfully nice of y-wait a minute! These are broken!" bellowed the boy.

"Darn it! You caught me!" bellowed the salesperson.

"Sorry, I'm not falling for your tricks today." said Ned.

The Magikarp Salesman grew frustrated still.

This time, he sent out his Kingler.

"Can I finally turn things around?" asked the salesman.

"i guess we'll just have to find out..." answered Ned.

Since Raichu was faster than Kingler (due to his claw weighing him somewhat), he got to go first.

Once again, he used Thunderbolt.

However, Kingler was still standing.

"That's one tough Kingler..." noticed Ned.

"I'm not gonna let you defeat me so easily! Crabhammer!" ordered the Magikarp Salesman.

The salesman's Kingler hit Raichu, which nearly made him faint.

However, he was still able to battle.

As before, Ned had Raichu use Thunderbolt, causing Kingler to be paralyzed.

Fortunately, this meant that Kingler could not move for the time being.

"Yes! Use Take Down!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Raichu did so...but made himself faint in the process. It looked like he was going to have to use a different Pokemon too.

"Yes! Hahaha!" laughed the salesman.

"Don't get too excited..." thought Ned.

For his last Pokemon, the salesman sent out Tentacruel.

As such, he decided to send out his Eevee. He felt like he could use the experience.

"Eevee, use Take Down!" ordered Ned.

Eevee did so, hurting himself a bit in the process.

In retaliation, the Salesman had Tentacruel use Wrap.

However, Eevee managed to free himself through biting.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed the injured jellyfish Pokemon.

"Good thinking, Eevee." said Ned.

"Eevee!" exclaimed the rabbit Pokemon. He was happy to be able to help his Pokemon trainer.

Once again, he had Eevee use Take Down, this time getting a critical hit.

However, Eevee was injured once again, though not as much as Tentacruel.

This time, the Magikarp Salesman wasted no time and had Tentacruel use Surf.

But Eevee was smart and hid behind a boulder to avoid it.

Now that Ned thought of it...maybe his Pokemon could move them aside so that he and his friends could get past them?

Eevee then bit one of Tentacruel's tentacles again, causing him to faint. Apparently, that was his most sensitive tentacle.

"Well, Magikarp Salesman, I won again. I suggest that you turn over a new leaf." answered Ned.

"Fine! Maybe I'll start a new business in Johto!" exclaimed the Magikarp Salesman.

"Johto?" asked the boy.

Immediately, the Magikarp Salesman left the island.

"See ya!" exclaimed Ned.

Suddenly, he remembered the Pokemon that he had saved.

"Well, it looks like you're free to go, since I got rid of the salesman..." stated the ten-year-old. How many Pokemon trainers had he scammed by now, anyway? He would probably lose count.

"Seel!" cheered the seal Pokemon, clapping his hands together.

"What? You want to be my Pokemon? That's awfully considerate of you...well, since I went out of my way to rescue you...I guess you can come along." noted Ned.

"Seel!" exclaimed the Pokemon.

"Maybe I should introduce you to Misty's sisters...they happen to have a Seel..." noted the boy.

"Seel! Seel seel seel!" bellowed Ned's new Seel.

"What? You've heard of them?" asked Ned.

"Seel!" exclaimed the water and ice Pokemon.

"What? They have their own water show? Well, I suppose that's not much of a surprise. Still, I wonder if they've been growing in popularity as of late." said Ned. That wouldn't surprise him too much either.

Immediately, Ned caught Seel in his Pokeball.

At that very moment, Lucy and Jake showed up. Apparently, they had wondered where both Ned and Chris had hopped off to.

"There you are!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Where's Chris?" asked Jake.

At that very moment, Chris revealed herself.

"Were you looking for me?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Yes, we were. We were starting to get worried." said Jake.

"Yeah, well don't worry about me. Worry more about yourself. I'll let you know that I'm perfectly fine. I even managed to catch a new Pokemon!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, Chris showed them her Jynx.

"Jynx!" exclaimed the ice Pokemon.

Clefairy generously handed Jynx a hairbrush...since it appeared to be the only Pokemon in the world that would ever want one.

"Did you steal that, Clefairy?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the fairy Pokemon.

"You found it in my backpack? Well, I still would have appreciated it if you told me..." said the young girl.

"I caught a Pokemon too...though in order to get him I needed to defeat the Magikarp Salesman..." stated Ned.

"The Magikarp Salesman? Is he not leaving you alone?" asked Chris.

"No, he is not." said the young boy.

Immediately, Ned showed the three of them his new Seel, sending it out from his Pokeball.

"Seel!" exclaimed Seel.

"Well, it's nice that you caught some new Pokemon...but have you found the legendary Pokemon? I would like to see if the rumors are true..." noted Jake.

"Seel!" bellowed the seal Pokemon.

"What? You know where the legendary Pokemon is? I guess they aren't myths after all. Still, I wonder where it is..." stated Lucy.

Seel immediately beckoned for the four of them to follow.

As it turned out, the legendary Pokemon was in a nest made out of ice.

"Articuno!" bellowed the legendary Pokemon.

Sure enough, their Pokedexes appeared to be going crazy.

"What's going on?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. They had never acted this way before.

Immediately, Ned used his Pokedex, which was vibrating uncontrollably.

"Whoa!" bellowed Ned.

"Articuno, the Freezer Pokemon! It is one of the three legendary birds! The flapping of its wings can turn water into snow!" exclaimed Ned's Pokedex.

"One of the three Legendary Bird Pokemon? I guess there are others..." noted Ned.

"Articuno!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

"Well, we've met the legendary Pokemon. What should we do now?" asked Lucy.

Suddenly, Articuno flew above their heads.

"Hmm?" asked Jake.

Immediately, she gave them some feathers.

"I wonder what we can do with these..." said Lucy.

"Seel!" bellowed the ice Pokemon.

"Apparently, they'll increase the strength of our water, ice, and flying Pokemon a bit..." noted Chris.

"Thank you!" exclaimed Jake.

Articuno then went to take a nap in her nest. She had to admit, it was not often that she received visitors.

But since someone had wanted to capture her and her brother and sister after mistaking themselves to be a hero of a prophecy, maybe it was best that she didn't attract too much attention.

Granted, as long as they didn't disturb the harmony of fire, ice, and lightning, she wouldn't mind being a Pokemon trainer's Pokemon too much. Still, with great power did come great responsibility.

"So, where should we go next?" asked Lucy as they exited the islands.

"I suppose we could try heading to the abandoned Power Plant next. It still appears to be generating power despite being abandoned...which personally I find to be rather strange..." noted Jake.

"That is rather odd..." agreed Ned.

"Maybe if we're lucky we'll find another Legendary Pokemon there!" exclaimed Chris.

Agreeing with Chris, the four of them set out towards the Kanto Power Plant.

Personally they wondered why the citizens of Kanto had ever abandoned it in the first place...

...would they want to find out?

_And that's the end of that chapter! in the next chapter, another Legendary Pokemon is going to appear...and in case it's not obvious, it's not going to be Articuno since our protagonists already met Articuno...it's going to be a close relative though._

_Oh, and Jerry's going to be at the Power Plant too. This time, he's trying to catch a Pokemon, but this Pokemon doesn't want him to be his Pokemon trainer? Now why could that be?_

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you'll enjoy the next...goodbye!_


	50. Chapter 50: Two Thunderstorms

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to head towards the Power Plant. And unfortunately Jerry will be there...currently he's trying to get a Pokemon to join his team...but as it turns out, he does not want to be part of Jerry's team...as is he aware that he is cruel towards Pokemon, as his former Charmander turned Charizard would attest._

_It looks like Chris is going to have to teach him yet another lesson. That's what you're looking forward to, right?_

**Chapter 50: Two Thunderstorms**

"I have to wonder why this place is abandoned..." questioned Lucy. It seemed rather unfortunate to let such an enormous power plant go to waste.

"Maybe they thought that it cost too much money to run?" answered Jake. Perhaps the people in charge found themselves out of pocket and decided that they needed to close down.

"I suppose that makes sense..." nodded Ned. He didn't want to spend too much money...though admittedly it wasn't hard to get considering all the Pokemon trainers that he and his friends had been fighting lately.

"I wonder how long it's been abandoned?" asked Chris. It had been abandoned for quite some time, it seemed, judging from the fact that the building appeared to have not been cleaned for a rather long time.

"I'm not sure...but I never recalled anyone running it before..." stated Lucy. Just how long had this power plant been abandoned?

Jake shrugged. Did someone decide to build the power plant but forget to hire people to run it? Since the power plant was abandoned...how was Kanto getting electrical power? This was the only power plant in Kanto that he was aware of.

"Do you want to...go inside?" asked Ned. Personally he was starting to feel a bit nervous. He wasn't exactly sure what he would find in there. Had the staff inside the Power Plant been attacked by some sort of wild Pokemon? If so, he was feeling rather frightened. What if the attacking Pokemon was still lurking inside?

"That's what we're here for!" exclaimed Chris. Why should they stop now?

Immediately, the four of them went inside, still unsure as to what they would find inside. Hopefully it wouldn't be too dangerous for them.

Curious, they noticed that there seemed to be several wild Pokemon inside the building. It wasn't very surprising, really. Places that were abandoned by humans tended to have Pokemon replace them.

"Voltorb!" exclaimed a wild Voltorb, rolling around the power plant. It was currently looking forward to an opportunity to Self-Destruct. It just needed someone to mistake it for a Poke Ball and then it would be all set. The trick worked every single time. Then again, its species had once been Pokeballs before an experiment went wrong.

Of course, nobody would mistake it for a Poke Ball if it kept moving as much as it currently was. Maybe it should try staying still. That wasn't an easy task for it though, considering how restless it was. The electricity inside the power plant was making it feel awfully excited. It was an electric Pokemon after all, though admittedly many of the moves it learned were normal type rather than electric.

"Magnemite!" bellowed a wild Magnemite, flying around the power plant. Personally it wondered if there was something magnetic so that it could stick it to its magnets.

"Pikachu!" stated a wild Pikachu, running around the power plant. Being inside this place made him feel very excited indeed. Personally he wondered if he should leave before he absorbed too much electricity, as that could make a Pikachu feel rather ill.

Sure enough, said wild Magnemite appeared to be following him. Since it feasted on electricity, an overcharged Pikachu would be its best friend in the world.

"Pikachu?" asked the wild Pikachu curiously. Why was it following him?

"Magnemite!" bellowed the wild Magnemite. Pikachu's electricity was so delicious.

"Pika pi..." murmured the electric Pokemon. Perhaps he had been storing up too much electricity in his cheeks. At this rate, he was going to end up evolving into a Raichu.

Sure enough, he was in fact starting to evolve, as he was now glowing with energy.

"Pikachu?" asked Pikachu.

Sure enough, he was now a Raichu.

"Raichu?" inquired the electric Pokemon. He was under the impression that he would need to find a Thunder Stone so that he could evolve. But maybe he didn't after all.

"Magnemite!" cheered the Magnemite. More electricity for it! Now if only it could find two other Magnemite so that it could become a Magneton.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the evolved electric Pokemon. Personally he wondered why he had turned orange when he evolved. He was under the impression that he would remain yellow.

He was also a lot bigger than he was before and had a much longer tail, though personally he did not find that to be as surprising. Most Pokemon did become larger when they evolved, especially Magikarp.

But at least he would be able to store more electricity inside his body without becoming sick. Perhaps he should invite his electric Pokemon friends to his place so that they could collect electricity too.

Of course, most of these Pokemon happened to be electric Pokemon. This was an abandoned power plant after all. It would be rather unusual if they didn't find electric Pokemon inside.

Shrugging, Chris decided to go ahead of the other three. She wanted to explore a bit more. To be honest, she thought that exploring a power plant that was abandoned would be fun, even if Ned would probably disagree.

Suddenly, she noticed a familiar face, and she began to sigh. Out of all the places that she could have encountered him, too. What was he even doing in a place like this?

"Oh brother..." thought Chris. How many times was she going to encounter him? Apparently, some things in life did not change.

As it turned out, she found Jerry, who was up to his old tricks. As usual, he was not being very nice. So much for treating others the way that he wanted to be treated.

Likely, life would be a lot easier for Jerry if he simply learned to respect others...but it appeared that he simply refused to do so.

Currently, he appeared to be trying to get a Pokemon to join him. However, he was not having much luck by the looks of it.

"C'mon! Join my Pokemon team!" exclaimed Jerry impatiently. He didn't have all day here.

"Electabuzz!" bellowed a nearby Electabuzz, who clearly wasn't interested in being Jerry's Pokemon.

"Why don't you want to join me?" asked the youngster.

"Buzz buzz!" exclaimed the Electabuzz. There were a number of reasons, actually.

"What? You said you saw me kicking a Growlithe outside the Power Plant? Don't be ridiculous! I would never do such a thing!" bellowed Jerry.

"Electa!" bellowed the electric Pokemon, able to see through his lies.

"What? I'm a liar? No, you're a liar!" retorted the boy angrily.

Apparently, this made Electabuzz angry, as there was now electricity sparkling out of him. Perhaps it would be best if he stood back.

Suddenly, the same Growlithe that Jerry had kicked earlier walked in. It appeared that he had managed to pick up Jerry's scent.

As it turned out, there was a mark indicating that Jerry was in fact lying and that he had kicked said Growlithe.

And yet, the Growlithe still seemed attached to him.

However, Jerry did not want a fire Pokemon on his team currently after his Charmander decided to "betray" him.

"Get away from me!" bellowed Jerry.

Once again, he kicked the Growlithe as hard as he could.

At this point, Chris decided to go talk to Jerry. Clearly he was up to no good again. And this time he was playing football with Growlithes, which she did not find amusing at all.

"Don't you have something better to do than to kick wild Pokemon?" asked Chris.

"You again? You're always ruining my fun!" exclaimed the abusive Pokemon trainer. Perhaps he should file a restraining order against her so that she would finally leave him alone

"Well, your idea of fun doesn't seem to be a Pokemon's idea of fun..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Whatever! Stand aside so that I can catch this wild Pokemon!" bellowed Jerry. He couldn't wait to add another Pokemon to his collection.

"Sorry, I'm not going to let you catch a Pokemon if it means that you're going to make it participate in fights that are hopeless..." stated Chris.

"Don't be ridiculous! Those ground-type Pokemon will be no match for its sheer electric power!" exclaimed the youngster.

"You do realize that ground type Pokemon are immune to electricity, right?" asked the teenage girl.

"Fine! If you don't want me to have this Electabuzz, I guess I'll just use my Pokemon to pulverize yours!" bellowed Jerry.

"Another Pokemon battle? How did I see this one coming?" inquired Chris. It appeared that Jerry solved all of his problems with violence.

Well, at least her Pokemon were going to get some more experience.

"Did you ever listen to your mother when you were growing up?" asked the teenage girl as she sent out her Nidoking. Though admittedly she didn't always get along with her parents, that was what she did most of the time.

"My mother was pretty generous to me, actually..." answered Jerry.

"That explains a lot..." noted Chris. Apparently, Jerry had been spoiled.

Immediately, he sent out his Ditto, which transformed into a Nidoking.

"Ditto? Nidoking?" asked the transformed Ditto. Apparently, it wasn't sure whether it should say Ditto or Nidoking.

"My transformed Nidoking is better than your real one!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Care to put that to the test?" asked Chris. She had to admit that she hadn't used Nidoking for a while. Now seemed as good of a time as any considering that he happened to be part ground type.

Jerry's Nidoditto attempted to hit Chris's Nidoking with Horn Drill, but he ended up missing. Once again, Horn Drill proved to be a very inaccurate Pokemon technique.

"Why can't I hit?" asked Jerry.

Immediately, Chris's Nidoking hit Jerry's Dittoking with Earthquake, causing him to faint and revert back to his normal form.

"Ditto..." murmured the transformed Pokemon, who at this point was basically a puddle.

"Dang nabbit! Why can't my doppelganger win?" asked Jerry.

"Maybe you haven't bothered training your Pokemon..." suggested Chris.

"That's a waste of time! My Pokemon are already invincible!" exclaimed the bratty boy.

"Then why did your Ditto lose?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Because you cheated!" bellowed Jerry.

Chris rolled her eyes. It appeared that Jerry always blamed everything that happened to him on others. It never occurred to him that something could be his fault rather than someone else.

"My Hypno is going to do the job!" exclaimed Jerry as he sent out his Hypno.

"Hypno!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon, ready to hypnotize.

"Oh really? Let's see whose Pokemon can put theirs to sleep first." said Chris.

Withdrawing her Nidoking, Chris sent out her Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed the balloon Pokemon.

Immediately, Jigglypuff sang while Hypno swung his pendulum.

Naturally, Jigglypuff managed to make Hypno fall asleep first.

"Hyp...no..." murmured the sleeping Hypno. Currently it was dreaming about having a Pokemon trainer other than Jerry. It was a pretty pleasant dream.

"No!" bellowed Jerry. This just wasn't fair. How was his Hypno going to fight back against Jigglypuff now?

Chris then had Jigglypuff use Rollout while Hypno was sleeping...

Jigglypuff kept on going and going...until eventually, Hypno fainted.

"Hypno..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. Chris's Jigglypuff was really tough, though he found it to be rather odd that such a tough Pokemon trainer would choose something so adorable as her starter.

Jerry stamped his foot in frustration. How could Hypno lose to a measly balloon?

"Sorry, but it looks like I'm winning..." stated Chris.

"Well, my Dodrio is going to change that!" exclaimed Jerry.

"Your Dodrio, huh?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Jerry sent out his Dodrio.

"Dodrio!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon. Chris noticed that Dodrio seemed more aggressive than the last time that she had encountered it.

Perhaps Jerry had trained his Pokemon after all...though apparently not nearly as much as he should have. Didn't he know that Pokemon needed exercise?

"You're sending out a flying Pokemon? Alright then...let me introduce you to my new Jynx..." stated Chris.

"Your Jynx?" asked Jerry. Since when did she have that sort of Pokemon?

Immediately, Chris sent out her Jynx to fight Jerry's Dodrio.

"Your freakishly human-like Pokemon is no match for my bird!" bellowed Jerry.

"We'll see about that...Jynx, use Ice Punch!" exclaimed Chris.

Jynx nodded, and she punched Dodrio in the middle head.

"Dodrio!" exclaimed the three-headed Pokemon, who was now feeling quite cold.

"C'mon! You can do better than this!" bellowed Jerry.

Immediately, Dodrio hit Jynx with Peck.

"Jynx..." murmured Jynx. That kind of hurt.

Once again, Chris had Jynx use Ice Punch. This time, Dodrio ended up being frozen.

"Dodrio!" exclaimed the trapped bird Pokemon.

"What? Oh, c'mon! Thaw yourself out already!" demanded Jerry.

Unfortunately, Dodrio could not break the ice that easily.

In retaliation, Chris had Jynx hit Dodrio again.

This time, Dodrio fainted.

"Lousy bird Pokemon..." murmured Jerry. He thought that he was stronger than that. Of course, this wasn't exactly the first time that he had fainted.

He would continue heading to the Safari Zone to find stronger Pokemon...except for the fact that he had been banned for refusing to return the Safari Warden's golden dentures. Who would have dentures made out of gold, anyway?

"Well, Jynx, you seem to be doing good in Pokemon battles though...then again, I'm sure that there are stronger Pokemon trainers than Jerry is out there..." answered Chris.

"Jynx..." murmured Chris's Jynx. That did seem to be rather true.

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm the very best and you know it!" exclaimed Jerry.

Chris rolled her eyes once again. Why did she even bother talking to Jerry?

"Time for me to send out my Sandslash!" exclaimed Jerry.

Immediately, Jerry sent out his Sandslash.

"You know, this place would probably be a good place to train your Sandslash since it's a ground type..." acknowledged Chris.

"Whatever! Sandslash, use Sand Attack!" bellowed Jerry.

Sandslash attempted to toss sand into Jynx's face, but she covered her face with her hand.

"Good thinking." noted Chris.

"Jynx!" exclaimed the ice Pokemon.

"Use Ice Punch!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Jynx hit Sandslash with Ice Punch, knocking him out.

"Yes!" cheered Chris.

"I still have one Pokemon left! This time, you're mine!" bellowed Jerry.

"Oh really?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

This time, Jerry sent out his Slowbro.

"Slowbro!" exclaimed the water and psychic Pokemon.

"It looks like you've managed to evolve your Slowpoke since the last time that we battled..." noted Chris.

"Darn right, I did!" exclaimed Jerry. Now his former Slowpoke was mightier than ever.

And yet, he did not seem to notice the Shellder biting into his tail. He was under the impression that he would try to shake him off.

Then again, if he did that, he would probably become a Slowpoke again.

Chris withdrew her Jynx and sent out her Parasect.

"Parasect!" exclaimed the grass and bug Pokemon.

"Once again, you're at a type disadvantage..." noted Chris.

"Type disadvantage? Who cares?" asked Jerry.

"You should if you want to win Pokemon battles..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Slowbro, use Surf!" ordered the youngster.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Slowbro was too slow to hit Parasect. Parasect managed to avoid the Surf attack easily.

"Slowbro..." murmured Slowbro. Personally he would rather take a nap that fight other Pokemon. But he would listen to Jerry for the time being.

"Go figure." thought Chris.

Chris had Parasect use Giga Drain, and Slowbro fainted.

"Grrr! One of these days I'm going to beat you, Chris! And then you're going to be sorry!" bellowed Jerry.

"In your dreams, maybe..." answered Chris.

In frustration, Jerry kicked a nearby Pokemon...

...but as it turned out, it was a wild Voltorb.

Unsurprisingly, the Voltorb Self-Destructed on him, covering him in ashes.

"Wah!" exclaimed Jerry.

Immediately, he ran out of the Power Plant crying.

"What a baby..." remarked Chris.

Suddenly, the Electabuzz that Jerry had been harassing earlier approached her.

"Huh?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Electabuzz pointed towards Chris's Pokeball.

"You want to join your team? Well, I don't recall having an electric-type Pokemon yet...so i suppose you can tag along for the ride..." stated Chris.

"Electabuzz!" cheered the electric Pokemon. Apparently, he had managed to find the Pokemon trainer that he was looking for...one that was a strong Pokemon trainer but wasn't abusive like Jerry.

As she put Electabuzz inside her Pokeball, she decided that maybe it would be best if she checked Electabuzz's Pokedex entry.

"What do we have here?" asked Chris.

"Electabuzz, the Electric Pokemon! Normally it is found inside power plants! But if it decides to leave, it may end up causing a blackout!" exclaimed Chris's Pokedex.

Immediately, she decided to send out her new Electabuzz.

"Electabuzz!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. He didn't think that he would be released from his Pokeball so soon.

"Hey, buddy! Try not to cause a power blackout when I decide to head back home, will you?" asked Chris.

"Electabuzz?" asked Electabuzz.

"It says in the Pokedex entry that you could cause a blackout if you don't control yourself..." warned the female Pokemon trainer.

Electabuzz nodded...though he never recalled ever causing a blackout before, even when he decided to leave the power plant to see if there was a Pokemon trainer that would be interested in recruiting him.

"By the way, do you know why people decided to abandon the power plant? I was under the impression that someone pressed a big red button that they shouldn't have and it led to disaster..." noted Chris.

"Electabuzz!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"You say that this was the work of a bird Pokemon?" asked the female Pokemon trainer.

"Buzz!" continued Electabuzz.

"An electric Pokemon too?" asked Chris.

"Electa electa buzz!" bellowed Electabuzz.

"So let me get this straight...a flying, electric Pokemon started flying around the power plant one day...the staff in charge saw it and got frightened...they all ran out of the building, and that's how it got abandoned?" inquired the female Pokemon trainer.

Electabuzz nodded.

"I suppose that makes sense...you think that it was one of the Legendary Bird Pokemon?" asked Chris.

Electabuzz shrugged. He supposed that it could be. That bird was awfully powerful.

At that very moment, Ned, Jake, and Lucy approached her.

"Can I help you all?" asked Chris.

"We noticed that you got into a Pokemon battle with Jerry again..." answered Ned.

"Yes...he always keeps a grudge." nodded the female Pokemon trainer. "On the plus side, I have an Electabuzz now..." noted Chris.

"So, now you have an electric Pokemon like I do?" asked the boy.

Chris nodded.

"Alright then. Did you investigate the rumor that there was a Legendary Pokemon here?" asked Ned.

"I think so." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"I'm curious." stated Lucy.

Immediately, the four of them went to investigate.

Sure enough, they noticed a bird nest that appeared to be made out of cables, similar to the one Articuno was using.

At that very moment, they saw the Legendary Bird Pokemon, who was standing close to the exit.

"Whoa!" bellowed Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That was one big bird. Personally she thought it would be best if she did not get too close. Otherwise she might experience some static electricity. She didn't look forward to being stuck to Lucy, even if they were already rather close.

"Zapdos!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Once again, their Pokedexes were acting crazy.

Immediately, Jake decided to scan the bird Pokemon.

"Zapdos, the Electric Pokemon! Whenever it flaps its wings, it can generate electricity!" exclaimed Jake's Pokedex.

"This reminds me of Articuno..." noted Jake.

"Zapdos!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"Yes, we've met your sister...I guess that means you're her brother." answered the twelve-year-old.

"Zapdos?" asked Zapdos.

"No, we haven't met your other sister yet...judging from the pattern she happens to be a fire type..." answered Jake.

Zapdos nodded. Jake had guessed correctly.

"I would imagine that she's living somewhere fiery..." stated Lucy.

"Zapdos." murmured the flying Pokemon.

"You think she's living on a mountain? Maybe we should investigate Mt. Ember...assuming that it's open to the public now..." noted Ned.

"Zapdos!" exclaimed Zapdos.

"It is? I guess that's where we should be heading next..." noted Lucy.

Immediately, Zapdos handed them some of his feathers, which they could of course use to power up their electric and flying Pokemon.

Using the conveniently located exit, the four of them decided to leave the power plant, as they had felt that they had stayed there long enough.

"That was a rather interesting experience..." acknowledged Ned.

Jake nodded.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Apparently, there were a total of three Legendary Bird Pokemon, and they had already met two of them.

Now all they needed to do was find the last one and then they would be done finding them all.

Together, they set out towards Mt. Ember.

_I hope that you enjoyed that chapter...in the next chapter, our protagonists are going to encounter the last legendary bird Pokemon...and yes, I chose for our protagonists to encounter them in the order of the names...that seemed rather appropriate._

_Afterwards, they're going to be invited to the Viridian Gym by two Team Rocket Grunts for some strange reason...what could they possibly be planning?_


	51. Chapter 51: Meeting The Professor

_Well, I was intending our protagonists to meet the Legendary Bird Pokemon in this chapter...but it appears that I droned on a bit and decided to have Chris battle Professor Oak instead. I'm sorry if you're disappointed._

_Still, you get to watch Chris battle a Pokemon professor, which is rather unique in itself, wouldn't you say? Believe it or not, Professor Oak is still a powerful Pokemon Trainer...however, he doesn't actually typically battle anymore...he would rather try researching Pokemon instead._

_As such, the only Pokemon he has to give to trainers are Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle...and of course failing that, Pikachu. You probably don't want to get stuck with Pikachu considering that Pikachu once refused to listen to Ash and liked to give him some nasty electric shocks..._

_Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter_

**Chapter 51: Meeting Professor Oak**

"I remember you! You want to head to the Sevii Islands again?" asked a sailor. He was happy that Pokemon trainers would like to continue to visit the islands. They seemed a popular tourist attraction these days, judging from how many people that were riding the boat. Perhaps they should start charging them some money...but the Poke Marts there were making enough as it was. People simply liked catching the Pokemon that was there.

Rumor had it that some of the Pokemon there were not typically native to Kanto and were instead native to Johto. He found that to be a rather interesting fact.

As it turned out, there was a line of people getting ready to head there as well. This annoyed Chris, who did not like playing the waiting game. Was it any surprise that she liked it when her battles ended quickly?

Fortunately, the line cleared before too long. It was just as well considering that Chris was getting grumpy.

"The Sevii Islands must be getting pretty popular." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Perhaps there were a lot of Pokemon that they could catch there?

"We sure do. I heard that Mt. Ember is now open..." noted Ned.

"It certainly is." nodded the sailor.

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's get going!" exclaimed Chris.

"I'm with you there." agreed Jake. They wouldn't want to keep the last Legendary Bird Pokemon waiting.

"Alright then. We shall be heading off shortly." said the sailor.

"It feels nice getting to ride a ship again." noted Lucy. Personally the ship reminded her a bit of the S.S. Anne. Speaking of which, she wondered if it could take her to another continent if she asked. That seemed to be rather exciting.

On the other hand, this ship appeared to be a lot faster than that particular cruise ship.

Immediately, they decided to sit down, wondering who else was on the ship. Chris hoped that Jerry wasn't one of the passengers, though she doubted she would see him again for a while after that fiasco with the Voltorb. He was probably in his room sulking if he was.

Then again, it was possible that he had been banned from this particular ship considering what had happened on the S.S. Anne. Personally she decided that it would be best if she did not abuse Pokemon in the future.

Sure enough, it appeared that the ship was beginning to take off.

Looking outside, Lucy noticed that everything appeared to be a blur.

"I'm surprised we aren't crashing into anything..." noted Lucy. Granted, it appeared to be rather smooth sailing in these waters despite all the currents, but still.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she wondered who would build a ship as fast as this. Maybe she could build a ship like that if she got the proper materials. However, she was aware that her Pokemon trainer did not want her to steal anymore, especially after the chaos it had caused when she had decided to pay her mansion a visit.

Curious, Chris wondered if there were any Pokemon trainers that would like to battle on the ship.

"Hmm..." thought the Pokemon trainer. Her Pokemon could really use the experience.

As it turned out, Professor Oak himself was on the ship.

"What were the odds?" questioned Chris. She was under the impression that he was still at his Pokemon Lab doing research, even after all this time.

But apparently he had decided to finally take a break from that so that he could do something else. Either that, or he was trying to research the Sevii Islands. It was probably the latter, really.

"Greetings! Have you come along with your Pokedex?" asked Professor Oak.

"I think I'll get my eighth gym badge soon, so yes." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Chris handed her Pokedex to Professor Oak.

"Let's see now...what's this? It appears that you've encountered more than 100 Pokemon!" exclaimed Professor Oak.

"I sure have." nodded Chris. She was under the impression that Professor Oak would be impressed with her now.

Though to be honest with him and herself, she did not become a Pokemon trainer so that she could fill out her Pokedex. She just wanted to become the Pokemon champion.

"Well, it appears that you've given me quite a bit of information. Is there anything else you wanted from me?" inquired the Pokemon professor.

"I was looking for a Pokemon trainer to face...though I heard that you've retired..." stated Chris.

"Well, I suppose you could spare you a Pokemon battle while we wait for the ship to reach Sevii Islands...I think that it will take some time." said Professor Oak.

"Yes!" cheered the female Pokemon trainer. Now she could train her Pokemon once more. At this rate they would be virtually unstoppable.

Well, maybe that was a bit of a stretch. But she would be able to do well in the Indigo Plateau Conference, at least.

Professor Oak decided to go first.

Immediately, he sent out his Alakazam.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon, brandishing his spoons.

"What's so psychic about spoons?" questioned Chris to herself. She thought that she simply used them to eat soup and the like. Why would an Alakazam be interested in them?

"You're sending out an Alakazam, are you? Well then, I'll send out my Gengar." said the teenage girl out loud.

Sure enough, Chris did just that.

"Gengar!" bellowed the ghost Pokemon.

"Alakazam, use Psychic!" ordered Professor Oak.

Alakazam did so. Unfortunately, Gengars were weak against psychic attacks due to their poison typing. Sometimes Chris wished that there were pure ghost types. But to her knowledge there were not pure ghost Pokemon in Kanto. Maybe she should try exploring another region someday? Johto seemed rather nice.

On the plus side, Alakazams were vulnerable to ghost type attacks.

"Try using Shadow Ball!" ordered Chris.

Gengar did so, and Alakazam endured a critical hit.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon. He almost dropped one of his spoons! Would that make him become a Kadabra? It would make him feel rather young again, to say the very least.

"Gengar!" cheered the ghost Pokemon. It appeared that he was doing well against Alakazam, even if that Psychic attack did a number on him.

However, it appeared that Professor Oak was deciding to play it safe by having his Alakazam use Recover, undoing much of Gengar's hard work.

Immediately, Gengar began to frown while Chris began to sigh. Something told her that was going to be a rather annoying technique. On the other hand, it might be handy if one of her Pokemon managed to learn it, though she preferred offensive Pokemon over defense. That was just how she rolled.

Now that she thought of it, she seemed to recall Gengar having a large Sp. Attack stat. Something told her that would come in handy if she was facing an opponent with low Sp. Defense.

Shrugging, Chris decided to have Gengar use Shadow Ball again.

This time, Alakazam collapsed on the floor, having lost his concentration. He struggled to regain it as he helped himself to his feet.

He tried using Psychic again, but this time it did not hurt Gengar much. Perhaps he had given Alakazam a headache...which was a psychic Pokemon's worst enemy, to say the very least.

Gengar hit Alakazam with another Shadow Ball, and he fainted.

"Not bad...I suppose I might have gotten inexperienced as a Pokemon trainer judging from how long it's been since I had my last Pokemon battle..." noted Professor Oak.

"You don't say?" answered the teenage girl.

"I suppose I'll just have to send out a different Pokemon..." acknowledged the professor.

Shrugging, Chris decided to see what Pokemon he was going to send out next. It might be in her best interest to try to prepare accordingly.

"Go, Parasect!" exclaimed Professor Oak.

Immediately, Professor Oak sent out his Parasect.

"Parasect!" bellowed the mushroom Pokemon.

Apparently, he was trying to research Parasect's mushrooms...either that, or he was hoping to sell them for some quick cash.

"Not bad, but I have a way to counter that..." stated Chris.

"Huh?" asked Professor Oak.

Immediately, Chris sent out her Charizard.

Professor Oak groaned. Why did Parasect have to have a double weakness against fire and flying? And as luck would have it, Charizard happened to be both, so neither grass or bug attacks would hurt him at all.

"Flamethrower!" ordered Chris.

Chris's Charizard used Flamethrower, and Parasect fainted.

Sighing, Professor Oak recalled his Parasect. On the plus side, he had an idea of what Pokemon to use next now.

"Go, Rhydon!" exclaimed the Pokemon professor.

"Rhydon!" bellowed the rock Pokemon.

"What's this? It appears that you're using a Rock Pokemon against me now, knowing that Charizard has a double weakness against rock. Whatever shall I do now?" asked Chris.

Professor Oak smirked in satisfaction.

"How about this!" exclaimed the female Pokemon trainer.

Immediately, Chris withdrew her Charizard and sent out her Shellder.

"Shellder!" cheered the water Pokemon. It was good to finally be out of that water tank. It felt like forever.

"Oh dear..." murmured Professor Oak.

Chris had Shellder use Water Pulse, and Rhydon fainted.

"Shellder!" cheered the shell Pokemon.

"Normally I'm the type of Pokemon trainer that prefers an offensive Pokemon...but I guess I'll make an exception for the Pokemon I caught while I was fishing..." noted the teenage girl.

Shellder blew raspberries at Professor Oak.

"Now you're just being rude! And to think after I made that fish tank for you too..." noted the professor.

Shellder frowned. Professor Oak did have a point...though she wished that Professor Oak would clean the fish tank every once in a while. As she had noted previously, she had been in that fish tank for forever. It was about time Chris had used her for a Pokemon battle.

"Alright then...it's time for me to send out my Raichu!" exclaimed Oak.

"Funny, I seem to recall you giving Ash a Pikachu since he showed up late for the lab appointment..." answered the teenage girl.

"Yes. But did you know that he and his Pikachu did not always get along?" inquired the professor.

"Oh, really?" asked Chris.

"Yes. Pikachu would simply not listen to what his Pokemon trainer had to say...unfortunately, it ended badly for Pikachu, which forced Ash to perform a heroic sacrifice to try to save him..." acknowledged Oak.

"Really?" inquired the teenage girl.

"Yes...nowadays he and Pikachu are the best of friends. I have no doubt that Pikachu will now be willing to help him catch a Pokemon...though he still seems hesitant to battle Misty, in particular her Togepi." answered the man.

"What's a Togepi?" questioned Chris. She had never heard of such a Pokemon. Of course, it seemed certain that there were still Pokemon left to be discovered. It appeared that the job of a Pokemon professor was never ending...which would probably explain how old Professor Oak was.

"It's a Pokemon that I've been researching as of late. Recent studies have indicated that it is from Johto, though I have yet to see one for myself. Perhaps I should consult Professor Elm on the matter." stated Professor Oak.

"Who's Professor Elm?" inquired the teenage girl.

"Just an old colleague of mine...according to him, he's going to start giving out starter Pokemon to Pokemon trainers once they open up the Johto Pokemon League...which will be in a few months." explained the professor.

"Intriguing..." murmured Chris. Perhaps she should consider signing up once she was done with the Indigo Plateau Conference. She was under the impression that she would make it far.

"You know, it's funny...my Jigglypuff and I used to be like Ash and Pikachu...only in reverse." noted the teenage girl.

"Oh really?" asked the man.

"Yeah...I used to not want to have her as a Pokemon, let alone my Pokemon starter...but then she helped me out against a particularly aggressive Tauros...I had decided to go look for high-level Pokemon when I didn't actually have any Pokemon myself yet...it was a mistake, I suppose." acknowledged Chris.

Unfortunately, it appeared that sometimes Chris's ego got the better of her and she ended up paying the price for it.

"Ever since then, she's been my starter Pokemon..." answered the teenage girl.

"I was wondering why a tough girl like yourself would choose a Jigglypuff to be her starter..." acknowledged the man.

"Now you know..." stated the teenage girl.

"Where was I? Ah yes." said Professor Oak.

Immediately, Professor Oak sent his Raichu to attack Shellder.

However, it appeared that her shell was protecting her from the electricity surprisingly well.

"Shellder!" cheered the shell Pokemon. She was glad that she found such a shell to protect herself...though sometimes she considered leaving it so that she could bite on a Slowpoke's tail. She had heard that Slowpoke tails were quite delicious.

Raichu attacked Shellder with electricity again, but this time she was fast enough to avoid it.

This time, she retaliated by trying to freeze Raichu, though she only succeeded in freezing his tail.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon. All of a sudden, he was having a hard time attacking with electricity.

Taking advantage of this, Chris decided to have Shellder give Raichu a bath.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. First his tail was frozen, and now this!

Raichu tried hitting Shellder with Mega Punch due to the lack of electricity from his cheeks...but having a frozen tail was making it hard for him to move.

And of course, Shellder simply wouldn't stay still.

"Try using Clamp." suggested Chris.

Shellder nodded, and did so on Raichu's tail...which was his sensitive joint.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. Unfortunately, he was having difficulty shaking him off.

However, he managed to melt the ice around his tail which stored electricity.

"Darn it." murmured the teenage girl. Well, she figured that Raichu would find a way to thaw out the ice eventually...assuming that it didn't end up fainting first. So long as a Pokemon was frozen, they were a sitting Psyduck.

Of course, being frozen typically wasn't a problem for a fire Pokemon. They could just use a fire technique and they would be out in no time. It was part of the reason why they were so effective against ice Pokemon.

But since Shellder was a water Pokemon also, she had less to worry about against fire types than other ice Pokemon, such as her Jynx for example. It was good to be both a water and ice type Pokemon it seemed. It had decent type coverage...though of course Shellder typically still had to worry about electric Pokemon like the one it was currently facing.

Speaking of which, Raichu managed to hit Shellder with a Thunderbolt.

"Shellder!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. That stung like a Beedrill.

Thankfully, Shellder still had some HP remaining...otherwise known as health points. Apparently someone thought it would be a good idea to try abbreviating it so that it didn't make people's heads hurt, like Lucy's Golduck when he was still a Psyduck.

However, the next time Shellder got a Clamp in, Raichu ended up fainting.

"So, are we done yet?" asked Chris.

"Yes...I have to admit, I'm rather impressed how strong your Pokemon have become..." noted Professor Oak.

"Yeah...getting seven gym badges will do that to you..." answered the teenage girl.

"Are you aware that the Viridian Gym is going to open shortly?" asked the professor.

"I can hardly wait..." stated Chris.

"Personally you remind me of my former Pokemon traveling partner, Agatha...unlike me, she decided that it wasn't in her best interest to retire. That's why she decided to become a ghost Pokemon trainer..." acknowledged Professor Oak.

"You don't say?" asked the teenage girl.

"Speaking of which, she appears to be on this ship too..." noted the professor.

"Oh really?" questioned Chris.

"Not bad. I see that you managed to beat Professor Oak...but he's not nearly the Pokemon trainer he was in his youth. He decided that studying Pokemon was more for him. Personally I enjoyed battling more..." answered Agatha.

"So, he's like my friend Ned while you're like me..." stated the teenage girl.

Agatha nodded.

Immediately, she sent out one of her Gengar, and used it to scare Chris.

Oddly enough, she was actually successful.

"Aah!" exclaimed the teenage girl. Agatha's Gengar must have been quite frightening if it was able to scare even a hotblooded Pokemon trainer like her.

Of course, she had heard that she was part of the Elite Four, so perhaps that wasn't such a surprise. It felt kind of awkward actually getting to meet her in person.

Still, she was under the impression that Agatha would be at a retirement home rather than the Pokemon League...then again, there was an elderly man who offered to use his Abra to Teleport trainers back home in case they weren't ready to start the Indigo Conference yet.

At that very moment, the Pokemon ship stopped at its destination.

"I'll see you later...I've got some research to do..." stated Professor Oak. It was a good thing that Johnny and the Tough Tentacools weren't bothering the Sevii Islands anymore. They were scaring tourists.

"Goodbye, I guess..." answered Chris.

_What's this? It appears that I might need to split this part into two chapters...oh well. I haven't covered everything on three of the Sevii Islands anyway._

_Hopefully in the next chapter our protagonists will actually get to meet the last Legendary Bird._


	52. Chapter 52: Three Infernos

_In this chapter, our protagonists are going to encounter Moltres herself. You've been looking forward to that, right? Afterwards they're going to get a message from Team Rocket Grunts telling them that the Viridian Gym is open. Too bad it's all a nasty trap...one designed by Giovanni himself. Things aren't going so well for our heroes, is it?_

_But for now I hope you enjoy a little breather chapter. I think I've covered all three of the Legendary Bird Pokemon, haven't I? Then I guess it's time to stop dilly-dallying._

**Chapter 52: Three Infernos**

_At Team Rocket Headquarters..._

Giovanni sat on his desk, sighing. His evil schemes didn't seem to be going well lately. He hadn't managed to get the Master Ball...and it was all because of four different kids. He never thought that his greatest enemies would be children...he in fact thought it would be Officer Jenny instead with her upholding the law with each and every one of her identical sisters. But it appears that he had thought wrong.

Speaking of Officer Jenny, why exactly did she and her sisters look exactly the same? Were they part of some sort of bizarre science experiment? Maybe he should ask Dr. Namba or Sebastian.

His Persian was rather unhappy as well. He didn't like seeing his master upset. And to think that it was all because of some meddling kids. Why couldn't they stay at home and not go out to catch Pokemon?

Of course, if Giovanni hadn't done that, they probably would have never met. It was kind of ironic, really. Giovanni was not unlike his enemies...at least before he grew up and became the leader of a criminal organization, anyhow.

Of course, they weren't exactly ordinary kids. There was something about them that was...special. How else would they be able to accomplish so much? His master would probably not be that surprised if one of them because the Pokemon Champion.

Incidentally, Domino was in the office with him. She appeared to be unhappy as well. To think that Giovanni's team was starting to fall apart despite her always remaining at her master's side.

"I'm a bit worried about Jake and his friends. He happens to know a lot about our organization..." noted Domino, frowning. It was only a matter of time before he started spilling secrets to Officer Jenny...and the more secrets he spilled, the more desperate their situation would become. Just how much did he know about the organization?

And to make matters worse, he had managed to defeat Giovanni twice...which had decreased the morale of the Team Rocket Grunts quite a bit. In fact, several of them had already left his side. If he lost a third time, what was Team Rocket going to do? Run home to their mothers and apologize?

At this rate Team Rocket was going to be disbanded. And considering how long he had been the leader of Team Rocket, he was not looking forward to that. Besides, Officer Jenny was likely hunting him down as they spoke.

If she caught him, he would be off to prison...and he would be there for a long time. Let's just say that her decision to place Giovanni on the top of Kanto's Most Wanted didn't exactly come out of nowhere. For some strange reason Number Two on the wanted list was...the Magikarp Salesman. Wasn't he the person that wouldn't leave James alone?

He was under the impression that he would learn not to trust him by now. But he was aware that Jessie and James weren't the sharpest tools in the toolshed...though to their credit they did come up with some pretty convoluted schemes to capture a certain yellow rodent belonging to a boy with a pun for a last name.

Not only that, but he would likely lose his precious Persian. His poor, sweet Persian. Officer Jenny tended to take people's Pokemon away from them if they were criminals. Something about violating their Pokemon license. He in fact had lost his license years ago...but it had never stopped him from catching Pokemon. He was a Pokecriminal. The biggest Pokecriminal of them all in fact.

Well, the biggest Pokecriminal in Kanto, anyway. He wasn't quite so sure about the other regions. He heard that there were other criminal organizations there. Perhaps he should try to conquer them as well. Or maybe he could try making alliances with them if he didn't believe that he would be able to do so effectively. It depended on the situation.

But for the time being, he was trying to come up with a plan to get rid of Jake once and for all. There had to be a way to finally get rid of him. He was sick and tired of him always coming out on top. His luck just HAD to run out sooner or later.

"Hmm..." thought Giovanni. Was there something that he not tried yet? Granted, so far he hadn't actually gone on the offensive against Jake and his friends...but now seemed like a good time. He had already thwarted his operation at Silph Co. and had managed to defeat several of his finest operatives along with his friends...if he didn't get rid of him, his evil schemes weren't going anywhere.

If he wanted to pull off a heist or something along those lines...he would have to deal with Jake and his friends.

"Giovanni?" asked Domino.

"Not now, Domino, I'm trying to think..." answered the leader of Team Rocket.

"Think about what?" inquired Giovanni's right-hand.

"I'm thinking about how to get rid of that treasonous boy Jake..." stated Giovanni.

"Oh, of course...sorry about that." apologized Domino.

"Any ideas?" suggested the man.

"Well, I heard that he has seven badges...but I'm not sure how that would help you..." answered the aide.

"That's perfect! You're a genius!" bellowed Giovanni.

"I am?" asked Domino.

"If he has seven badges...then there's no doubt that he's going to want to pay my gym a visit...it would be the perfect place to ambush him...even if he and his friends get past my supporters...then they'll still have to face me...it's the only way for them to get the Earth Badge." noted the man.

Immediately, he and Domino began to laugh evilly. Hopefully this plan would work...it seemed rather effective. He just needed to make sure that each and every member of Team Rocket was ready.

"And if all else fails, I have my secret weapon..." thought Giovanni. He would like to see Jake and his friends face off against that.

**"You called me, master?" **inquired a Pokemon in a psychic voice.

"Yes, we're going to visit some children. They've been very naughty...and now they must suffer for their actions." noted the man.

**"Children? I was under the impression that you would send me after someone different..." **answered this particular Pokemon.

Quickly, he and Domino went towards the Viridian Gym, bringing each and every Team Rocket member with them. They were looking forward to having their revenge.

_Meanwhile..._

"So, this is Mt. Ember, huh?" asked Lucy.

"Oddly enough it doesn't seem to be smoldering..." answered Jake.

However, according to scans from their Pokedex, there were fire Pokemon in the area. Personally, they wondered if they should try catching more Pokemon. They might be useful if they had to face off against a trainer that liked training grass or ice Pokemon.

Curious, Lucy noticed that there appeared to be a wild Pokemon in the grass.

But before she could toss a Pokeball, it ran away.

Immediately, Lucy began to chase after it.

"This Pokemon is awfully fast..." thought Lucy. She doubted that she would beat it in a race.

"Clefairy..." nodded Lucy's Clefairy. Perhaps it would be best to try to trap it.

Fortunately, this Ponyta was very young, so she had to stop to catch her breath. If she had been a Rapidash, she probably wouldn't be doing so. Rapidashes could run for hours.

Suddenly, she noticed some rather delicious grass, and began to eat it, ignoring the Pokemon trainer that was after her for the time being. She was feeling fairly hungry.

This gave Lucy an opportunity to scan the Ponyta with her Pokedex. However, she got the feeling that Ned had done so already.

Unfortunately for Lucy, it appeared that running towards the Ponyta wasn't going to work, as she appeared to have fairly decent hearing. She was going to have to come up with a different plan if she wanted to catch her.

Fortunately for Lucy, she now knew what type of Pokemon Ponyta was...considering its environment, that wasn't too surprising. Mt. Ember was fairly hot.

As such, she knew which one of her Pokemon she could send out. She was glad that she had brought Golduck with her.

Speaking of Golduck...

"Go, Golduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Golduck!" bellowed Golduck as he was sent out from the Pokeball. He always seemed to say his name whenever he came out of there. Maybe it was force of habit.

Immediately, Golduck began to examine his surroundings. He was under the impression that Lucy would take him somewhere with water. Instead, it was somewhere hot.

However, he then realized that this was where fire Pokemon thrived...and suddenly, he got the idea of why Lucy sent him out. He always did well against fire types.

But before he fought against a wild Pokemon, Lucy wanted to ask him something.

"Can I ask you something? If you're a Golduck, then why are you blue?" questioned the young girl. She wondered why Professor Oak had named Golduck that.

Golduck shrugged. To his credit, his previous evolution was yellow, which was similar to gold. He wondered that question himself.

"I suppose i can ask questions later. For now, can you help me catch that Ponyta? She's awfully fast..." noted Lucy. She doubted that Ned's Golem could ever catch her.

Lucy's Golduck nodded.

"Bubblebeam!" ordered Lucy.

Golduck immediately pelted Ponyta with a Bubblebeam.

"Ponyta!" bellowed Ponyta as she was hit with the bubbles. Why couldn't she be up against a grass type? Of course, grass Pokemon never seemed to show up in a place like this.

Realizing that Ponyta had slowed down, Lucy tossed a Pokeball.

This worked out, and Ponyta was caught after a brief struggle. It always felt good to catch another Pokemon regardless of how many times she managed to pull it off.

"Alright! I did it!" bellowed Lucy. That was another Pokemon for her PC. Maybe if she was lucky Ponyta would grow up to become a Rapidash. Of course, she was also interested in riding it. That ought to be fun...though she was a bit worried that she might end up being burned.

Of course, she probably wouldn't have to worry about that if she could get Ponyta to trust her. They could control the temperature of their fire so that they wouldn't end up burning anyone. Lucy wondered how they managed to pull it off. It was a mystery.

Shortly afterward, she sent out her new Pokemon while sending her Golduck to her personal computer using a new feature on her Pokedex that Professor Oak had installed for her. Since he was on the same ship as she was, she figured she might as well use that new feature to her advantage.

Since Ponyta was rather beat up, Lucy used a Hyper Potion. Since she was rich, affording them was a trivial matter...though she was careful not to spend too much on them regardless. She didn't want to make her parents angry now.

"Ponyta!" cheered the fire horse Pokemon. She was feeling so much better now.

"Wait, don't Pokemon heal up when you send them to your PC?" asked Lucy.

Ponyta shrugged. Maybe it took a little while for her.

Curious, she noticed that there appeared to be a fire coming from the summit. Immediately, she went to look for her friends so that she could investigate the matter personally.

As it turned out, Jake had managed to catch a Pokemon of his own.

"I caught a Magmar..." stated Jake.

"You did?" asked the rich girl. Apparently, she wasn't the only one that had caught a Pokemon.

"Yeah...for some strange reason he actually liked the smell of my Grimer...I don't know why. To his credit Grimer had a very mild odor compared to the other Grimers.

Jake showed Lucy the Pokedex entry for it.

"Magmar, the Spitfire Pokemon. Its body is so hot that it is sometimes mistaken for a great ball of fire..." noted Jake. He wondered if they ever whipped out the fire extinguishers or called the fire department...did the Sevii Islands even have a fire department?

"I suppose that makes sense...' nodded Ned. Magmar did in fact resemble fire...though the shackles on its ankles and neck were a distinguisher.

"If we want to find the last Legendary Bird...we ought to check out the summit..." answered Lucy.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed Ponyta. She was a fangirl of that particular Pokemon...though admittedly she wasn't actually a bird.

"Oddly enough I heard a rumor that Blaine decided to become a Fire Type Pokemon Trainer because he saw a flaming bird once...you think that's the Legendary Pokemon we're looking for?" stated Ned.

"Most likely." said Jake.

Immediately, they began to climb to the summit. Fortunately, it wasn't that hard to get to the top.

Sure enough, there was the last Legendary Bird Pokemon. As before, their Pokedex began to vibrate rapidly.

Lucy scanned the Pokemon with her Pokedex.

"Moltres, the Flame Pokemon. Every flap of its wings generate flames." said Lucy's Pokedex.

"I can see that! Her wings are on fire!" bellowed Lucy. It might be in their best interest not to get too close...unless they of course happened to be Fire Pokemon like Moltres was.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. All that heat was making her feel rather uncomfortable. Where did she put her stolen fan?

"It looks that way..." nodded Jake.

As a reward for finding her, Moltres gave them all feathers to enhance the power of their fire and flying types. It was a rather decent gift.

They then climbed back down the mountain.

Curious, Moltres got the feeling that they had already met her brother and sister. What were the chances?

"Well, that was all three of the Legendary Birds...what should we do now?" asked Lucy.

"I think we know the answer to that." answered two voices.

"Oh brother...more of these guys." stated Chris.

Sure enough, it was two more Team Rocket Grunts. And they were in the Sevii Islands of all places. Apparently they weren't exclusive to Kanto...as unfortunate as it was.

"If you think you're going to be taking our Pokemon, you have another thing coming!" bellowed Jake.

"Relax, we're not here to fight you." answered the grunt on the left.

"What? Why not?" asked Lucy.

"We just want to notify you that the Viridian Gym is open..." stated one of the Grunts.

"Wha-what?" inquired Lucy. She thought the Gym would never open. It seemed closed for all eternity. It was as if the Gym Leader had retired or something.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. This was a big surprise. But it was a pleasant one.

"Finally! That took forever!" remarked Chris. She had gotten sick of waiting.

Immediately, all four of them began to feel rather happy. They finally had the opportunity to get the final gym badge...and it only took them fifty-two chapters too. Apparently the fanfic was going to end soon...which was disappointing to them as that put an end to their adventures.

Of course, there was always the possibility that a sequel would come out that took place in the Johto region...the author in fact had plans for that.

"Did the author just break the fourth wall?" inquired Chris. It was rather...odd.

"I think he did." answered Ned.

"I just hope that he doesn't do it too much...it'll probably get annoying after a while..." retorted the teenage girl.

The author sent Chris an apology.

"Thank you." stated the teenage girl. Sometimes she thought that the author was rather annoying.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Why was the author breaking the fourth wall all of the sudden? Of course, she was well-aware that Meowth from Team Rocket liked to break the fourth wall too.

For some strange reason Jake thought this was too good to be true...but since he was desperate to get a Gym Badge he thought that he would put those thoughts behind him.

Immediately, he set off back to Kanto along with his friends so that he could go to Viridian Gym. Fortunately, he still remembered where it was.

"Ride like the wind, Bullse-I mean, Ponyta!" exclaimed Lucy.

Personally Ponyta was unsure how she felt about the nickname "Bullseye". She was not a Tauros.

As the four of them set off into the sunset...they were utterly unaware of the peril that they were in...

_What's this? It appears that our four protagonists have been invited to the Viridian Gym...too bad that it's a trap. Will they be able to survive wave after wave of Team Rocket Grunts? And just what Pokemon does Giovanni have?_

_Well, you probably know the answer to that one if you've watched the anime. But I'm not going to spoil it if you don't._


	53. Chapter 53: Team Rocket's Last Stand

_In this chapter, our heroes are going to the final gym...and in the process they're going to fall right into Giovanni's trap. They've got to be more careful, don't they?_

_Well, at least they'll have the opportunity to get the final gym badge...then it's off to the Pokemon League! Of course, that might be a bit anti-climatic considering what's going to happen in this chapter._

**Chapter 53: Team Rocket's Last Stand**

Lucy, Chris, Jake, and Ned headed back to Viridian City. It felt odd going back there after so long. But at least it was close to home.

Or in Chris's case, it WAS home. Unlike her friends, she lived out in the big city.

Sure enough, her mother was right outside her house. She was admiring the flowers...and the grass and bug Pokemon that often came to visit those flowers.

Suddenly, her mother noticed her.

"You're back! My sweet little angel is back!" exclaimed Chris's mother.

"Oh no..." thought Chris. This wasn't going to be fun. At all.

Unsurprisingly, her mother somewhat resembled her daughter...however, she was dressed quite differently. She also looked somewhat more...cheerful.

It was a bit of a surprise that they were related, let alone mother and daughter. What was Chris's family like, anyway? Ned in particular was interested in meeting them.

"I'm so happy to have you back home, Christine! I'm so glad that you came to visit!" bellowed Chris's mother. Sometimes it got lonely while her daughter was off on a Pokemon adventure.

"Christine?" thought Jake.

Immediately, Chris's mother began to hug her tightly, causing her to frown. How many times did she hug her per day, anyway? She was losing count.

"Mother..." murmured Chris. Already, she was starting to feel rather embarrassed. Did she have to do that in front of her friends? Besides, she wanted to face the final Gym Leader already. That way she could get into the Pokemon League and fight at the Indigo Plateau.

"I'm starting to see why she wanted to go away from home..." noted Ned.

"Oh, what's this? You brought friends! Why don't I make you tea and cookies?" inquired Chris's mother.

Chris sighed.

"Cookies would be nice..." acknowledged Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy, who was now rather happy. Clefairy loved cookies...especially cookies that were shaped like Pokemon.

Curious, Jake decided to check the book of Kanto World Records to see if he could find anything interesting about Chris's mother. Chris did seem to be quite an achiever. Maybe she inherited that from her mother?

Of course, maybe it could have been her father.

Apparently, Chris's mother had broken the record for the most embarrassing mother in Kanto. Who would have thunk it?

Chris must have a hard life...

Also, her mother's name was Katherine. Katherine Himura, to be precise. Her name was rather similar to her daughter's now that he thought of it. Maybe there was some sort of theme naming?

Shrugging, the four of them decided to enter Chris's house. Though Chris was not as rich as Lucy, the house looked rather...nice. In fact, it was full of flowers.

Still, Jake wondered if Chris had gotten sick of how sweet her environment was...and if she was going to whip out her Charizard to hunt down Grass Pokemon that were typically abundant in environments like this.

Excited to have guests, Katherine beckoned her daughter and her three friends to sit down.

Reluctantly, Chris decided to do so. She wasn't planning on paying her mother a visit...but it looked like she was going to have to change her plans.

"It's nice to get to have a break after traveling across Kanto..." noted Ned. It looked like they just might have reached the end of their travels. Once they got past Victory Road, they would be all set.

Of course, Victory Road wasn't the easiest place to traverse in the world. It was full of powerful Pokemon...but of course that was just the way that Chris liked it.

"I'm not looking forward to it. I want to hurry up and get to the Viridian Gym already..." answered Chris. She had been waiting for that gym to open since forever...especially since she lived close to it.

Now she finally had her chance.

Sure enough, Chris's mother returned. As she had said earlier, she had baked some cookies. She was carrying a pan full of cookies that were shaped by Pokemon. Unsurprisingly, she was wearing an apron and some oven mitts. Wouldn't want to burn yourself now. Unless of course you were a Fire Pokemon. Fire Pokemon NEVER burned themselves.

Happily, Lucy's Clefairy began to devour them. Unfortunately, her table manners were a bit on the poor side.

Fortunately, Lucy handed Clefairy a napkin so that she could wipe her face.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Maybe she could use that to wipe the windshield of her spaceship.

Speaking of which, she was almost ready to repair it. A few more belongings and she would all be set.

Of course, her Pokemon trainer DID tell her not to steal. Imagine what would happen if she stole a leek from a Farfetch'd. That would have been a disaster waiting to happen.

She seemed to have made a Kadabra angry when she had swiped his spoon as well. She had been sent flying with psychic powers for her trouble.

She certainly wasn't going to do that again.

"My mother is so embarrassing..." remarked Chris.

"At least you have a mother..." noted Jake.

"Oh yeah...your father's a widower..." stated the teenage girl. She was sorry to hear that. Personally she wondered what it would be like living without her mother.

After visiting Chris's mother and watching Chris's face turned pink, our four heroes left the house so that they could fight the Gym Leader.

"Finally!" exclaimed Chris. She had no idea when that little visit was going to end.

Oddly enough, the old man that Jake and Lucy had seen earlier had gone without his coffee again. At least he hadn't bothered calling Officer Jenny.

He immediately noticed the four of them as they approached the gym.

"Stay away from the gym! It's full of crazy hooligans! And it's private property!" bellowed the old man.

"OK..." answered Chris. Was it really private property? She was under the impression that it was...public property. Didn't it belong to the Pokemon League, anyway?

Since Viridian City was rather close to the Indigo Plateau, it wouldn't be a long walk back to where the Indigo Plateau Tournament was taking place if they managed to get the Gym Badge. Perhaps it was their lucky day.

They were looking forward to get to compete against other Pokemon trainers. Maybe if they were lucky they would be able to make it far in the tournament.

Of course, they probably hadn't been Pokemon trainers for as long as the other Pokemon trainers that might decide to participate. Whoever was the strongest was going to be the winner, they supposed. Or maybe it would be the smartest.

Then again, sometimes the tournament could be rather unpredictable. After all, you never knew who was going to be paired up with who. For all they knew they could be paired up against a trainer that had Legendary Pokemon...but that would probably be if they were unlucky.

For now, they decided to enter the Viridian Gym. Since the Gym Leader had finally returned, things were looking rather good for them. Maybe if they were lucky they could actually get the Gym Leader to fight them.

Still, they wondered why they had taken so long to get back to the gym. The trainers must have been disappointed to find out that the Gym Leader had suddenly vanished without a trace.

How were they going to get the Gym Badge if the Gym Leader wasn't there? Win it in a raffle?

Immediately, the four aspiring trainers approached the gym.

But some strange reason, Jake got a feeling of dread when they went to open the door. Something just didn't seem right. Why had this particular gym opened once they had obtained all the other gym badges? It seemed a bit too good to be true.

"Is something the matter, Jake?" inquired Lucy. She noticed that Jake seemed rather worried. He appeared to be sweating.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. For some strange reason she was starting to feel worried as well. What exactly WAS waiting for them in the final gym? All they knew for certain was that there was a Gym Leader inside.

They weren't sure what type of Pokemon the Gym Leader trained, either. From the looks of it, it was different than the other Gym Leaders they had faced...though for some strange reason they got the feeling that it was similar to the type of Pokemon that Brock trained.

"Perhaps we should get ready before we open that door and step into the gym..." stated Ned.

"I think we're ready..." answered Chris.

"And yet, for some strange reason, I can't help but shake the feeling that we won't be able to turn back once we open that door..." said Jake.

"Is this like back when we were in Silph Co?" asked Lucy.

"Yes...only this time we're in for an even greater battle...I can feel it." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"An even greater battle?" inquired the rich girl. Personally she wondered what exactly could top that. Silph Co. had been rather eventful for them.

It was a good thing that Giovanni didn't get his hands on the Master Ball. What kind of Pokemon was he hoping to catch

"Yes...for some strange reason, this battle feels rather...final..." stated Jake.

"Well, it's the last gym in Kanto we have to visit..." noted Ned. There weren't going to be any more gyms to visit after that. It felt rather weird.

"Yes...but it feels like a final battle of a different kind as well..." said the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"I wonder what that means..." answered Lucy. It seemed rather cryptic.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. Was the last Gym Leader someone who they had met before? That probably made sense...they had been all across Kanto at this point. They had even met the three Legendary Bird Pokemon.

Personally they wondered if there were other legendary Pokemon in Kanto as well. There likely was other legendary Pokemon in different regions as well...though they weren't sure whether they should explore them or not. They had already been away from home as long as it was. Perhaps it would be best to return home once their final scores in the tournament came in.

Taking a deep breath, all four of them stepped inside the gym.

Oddly enough, it didn't seem well-lit. Did someone forget to pay their electricity bill?

That seemed odd considering that Gym Leaders typically had a lot of cash...maybe one of them should consider becoming a Gym Leader so that they could get money.

Then again, they would be handing out badges instead of receiving them. Chris probably wouldn't be interested in that.

Curious, they began to wonder where was the Gym Leader. If he wasn't in the gym, then why was the door unlocked? It seemed rather foolhardy to let a burglar come in.

"Did the Gym Leader chicken out when they realized that we were coming?" asked Chris. If so, she was awfully disappointed.

Immediately, they decided to investigate their surroundings to see if there was any sign of them.

However, what happened next was not what they were expecting.

"Bravo bravo...I see that you managed to defeat all the other Gym Leaders...now I'm the only one left..." said a voice.

"Who said that?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. Was it the Gym Leader? Perhaps this was some sort of crazy gym mechanic. The Pokemon Gyms tended to have these to make approaching the Gym Leader more difficult.

Sometimes they could be a...pain.

"Wait a minute..." answered Jake. That voice seemed AWFULLY familiar. Where had he heard that before?

He was about to find out.

At that very moment, a light appeared.

Curious, they decided to look at the light.

They gasped in shock.

It was none other than Giovanni, sitting on a chair petting his Persian. Standing next to him was Domino. As usual, she was at his side. Perhaps Domino was Giovanni's most faithful follower of all.

Lucy was rather impressed with her loyalty...though she was pretty loyal to her friends herself. But why exactly would she want to work so closely with the most dangerous man in Kanto?

Judging from the smile on Giovanni's face, he was particularly looking forward to this battle, even though he had lost twice before.

Curious, Jake wondered what exactly he was planning. He got the feeling that this was some sort of trap. And unfortunately, he and his friends had been lured into it.

Well, it was too late to do anything about it now. He and his friends were just going to have to stand their ground and hope for the best.

"I certainly am impressed that you managed to make it this far...of course, you have had plenty of time to travel across Kanto, have you not? Still, not every Pokemon trainer can say that they've gotten seven gym badges...I can tell you that." answered Giovanni.

"But it's all going to end now. I'm going to take all of your Pokemon that you worked so hard to obtain...they'll certainly sell for a high price, I can tell you that. Then again, maybe they'll realize that they've been stolen...but I can always persuade them to part with the money..."

Suddenly, Jake heard the sound of the door locking behind them. Apparently, the Team Rocket Grunts had locked them in. They were trapped in the same gym with Giovanni.

Who would have thought that HE was the last gym leader that they were going to face? Of course, life WAS full of surprises.

But...why would the Pokemon League let him be in charge of the gym? Did they not realize who he was?

Curious, Jake noticed that Domino was approaching what appeared to be a switch.

"This cannot be good..." answered Jake. He was starting to get the feeling he knew what Giovanni had planned.

Domino flipped the light switch...causing Jake, Ned, Lucy, and Chris to all gasp in shock.

Sure enough, the gym was full of Team Rocket Grunts...Rocket Grunts that really wanted their Pokemon. None of them looked particularly friendly, either. What else could you expect from a bunch of criminals that liked taking Pokemon from trainers?

Lucy wondered why they couldn't simply catch wild Pokemon like the rest of them. Were they simply too lazy to raise Pokemon themselves?

Naturally, the Team Rocket Grunts in question included Jessie and James...and Butch and Cassidy. They in particular had been looking forward to this ambush.

"We're finally going to win, twerps!" exclaimed James.

"Let's see you make us blast off now!" bellowed Jessie.

"Meowth! That's right!" shouted Meowth.

"I hope they get my name right..." remarked Butch.

"I've been looking forward to this!" cheered Cassidy. Finally those little brats were going to get what they deserved. Who would have thought that children would become their biggest threat?

"Let's make this our final battle, shall we? I think that this has gone on long enough..." noted Giovanni. If he lost again, it was most likely curtains for Team Rocket...even if Officer Jenny DIDN'T arrest him. The more times he lost Pokemon battles, the less the other Team Rocket Grunts feared him.

Of course, the admins respected him rather than fear him...but that was besides the point. Even THEY might leave him if they felt that he couldn't defeat his foes.

"I suppose..." answered Jake. Still, he was worried that he was outnumbered. There certainly seemed to be a lot of Team Rocket Grunts, even if they weren't effective combatants by themselves. More often that not, they were rather...cowardly. Chances are they would run away if the situation looked bad.

But of course, right now the situation looked good for them. They probably weren't going to run away unless many of them had been defeated. And even then Giovanni likely would be effective at keeping them together. They REALLY wanted to stay on his good side.

"Team Rocket Grunts, charge!" bellowed Giovanni.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts began to charge towards the foursome.

"Get ready to fight..." said Jake.

Lucy, Ned, and Chris nodded. One thing was for certain...this was a fight that they were going to remember. Possibly for the rest of their lives.

Hopefully they would still have their Pokemon when this was over.

Quickly, Lucy, Ned, and Chris sent out their Pokemon.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed Lucy's Venusaur.

"Raichu!" bellowed Ned's Raichu.

"Charizard!" shouted Chris's Charizard.

Likewise, Jake decided to send out his Pokemon as well.

"Blastoise!" yelled Jake's Blastoise.

Quickly, the Team Rocket Grunts sent out their Pokemon.

"Rattata!" exclaimed a Rattata belonging to one of the Grunts. Personally she would rather have cheese...but what could she do?

"Koffing!" bellowed a Koffing belonging to another Grunt, spitting out smoke everywhere. When would he get to evolve into a Weezing?

"Ekans!" screeched an Ekans belonging to yet another Grunt, sticking out his forked tongue.

"Voltorb!" shouted a Voltorb belonging to a scientist.

"I didn't know that Team Rocket had scientists..." noted Ned. It's too bad that they were working with the bad guys. He might be interested in learning about science from them.

Fortunately for the four, taking on the Pokemon one by one was not a hassle. It appeared that the grunts were not nearly as experienced as they were, judging from the fact that their Pokemon had not evolved yet.

However, the scientists were proving to be more problematic...as they were smarter and had better Pokemon.

However as the battle progressed, they decided that they would better off attacking together instead.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the longer the battle raged on, the more their Pokemon would start to wear down.

Chris noticed that her Charizard's flame was starting to become smaller, signifying that he was becoming exhausted.

"We're just going to have to hold out as long as we can..." noted Chris. Maybe if they were lucky Officer Jenny would show up.

The sooner they got help...the better.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. This was going to be a LONG battle.

_This has been a suspenseful chapter, hasn't it? I hope that you're enjoying it. We just might see the end of Team Rocket, folks. Of course in the anime for some strange reason Team Rocket continues to live on...but that's not how I roll. You just might be seeing more of Jessie and James though._

_Also, Chris just so happens to have an embarrassing mother. Who would have thought that your parents could be such a source of embarrassment? You still love them though. Right? RIGHT?_


	54. Chapter 54: Final Gym Badge

_Well, I think these few chapters are going to be the climax of this fanfic, wouldn't you say? Of course if I write a sequel I might include more climaxes like this...heh heh._

_Speaking of which, this story has over 5000 views now. How about that? I suppose I should be proud of myself._

**Chapter 54: Final Gym Badge**

"I never thought that we would be taking on this many Team Rocket Grunts at once..." stated Ned.

"Talk about a final battle..." answered Chris. Hopefully Giovanni would not finally win. With all the training she had made her Pokemon do, it would be a real pity to lose them to Team Rocket.

Fortunately for Lucy, she had managed to slip past the crowd to confront Giovanni himself. She figured that if she managed to take down Giovanni, then the final battle would be over and then her friends could go to the Pokemon League.

Jake noticed this and attempted to follow her, but he was blocked by Jessie and James.

"Not you guys again..." stated Jake. He had a feeling that they would show up. He could have sworn that he saw them for a moment amongst the Team Rocket crowd.

Once again, they recited their theme song.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"You and your friends are going to experience devastation!"

"This final battle is going to sweep the nation!"

"You're about to experience the evils of truth and love!"

"You had better start wishing to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket is going to win this final fight!"

"You're going to be out like a light!

"Meowth, that's right!"

"I see that you changed your motto to suit this final battle..." stated Jake.

"We sure did!" bellowed James.

Immediately, Jessie and James sent out their Lickitung and their Victreebel respectively.

"You guys again..." noted Jake.

Since this was a Pokemon battle (which unfortunately deterred him from giving Lucy a hand in case she lost against Giovanni), Jake decided to send out his Grimer and Machamp. Fortunately, he got the impression that he would be able to finish this battle quickly.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

Curious, he noticed who he was facing.

In this case, it was Team Rocket again.

"Grimer?" asked Jake's Grimer. It seemed just yesterday when they had fought them back at Silph Co.

"I know. We face them a lot." nodded Jake.

Well, whatever kept his Pokemon trainer safe, he supposed.

Curious, Lickitung wondered what the juice inside Victreebel tasted like.

Immediately, he took a lick.

Unfortunately, he ended up burning his tongue.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the tongue Pokemon. That was spicy with a capital S!

And to make matters worse, he ended up paralyzing Victreebel due to the unique saliva on his tongue.

"Victreebel!" exclaimed James' unfortunate Victreebel, now much less mobile than she was before.

Meanwhile, Lucy successfully managed to find Giovanni.

"What's this? You're going to challenge me? So foolish..." answered Giovanni. Apparently she was just dying to have her Pokemon taken away from her and sold on the market to unsuspecting and gullible Pokemon trainers. He just loved cheating them...much like a certain salesman.

"My friends already managed to beat you..." stated Lucy. Surely she could the same, right? Then again, she wasn't as good at battling as Jake and Chris were.

"Yes, yes...but now I have five Pokemon!" exclaimed the boss.

Immediately, Giovanni sent out his five Pokemon.

However, Lucy seemed confused about something.

"You said you have five Pokemon, yet you only have four..." stated Lucy, raising an eyebrow.

"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy. Why did Giovanni did say that?

"What? Don't be ridiculous! I have five Pokemon!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"You only have four..." answered the girl.

"Are you even doing the math?" bellowed the boss.

"Of course I am! There are four!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Learn to count!" screamed Giovanni.

"I already learned how to count!" bellowed the girl. Why wouldn't her parents send her to school?

"THERE! ARE! FIVE! POKEMON!" exclaimed the boss on the top of his lungs. He was going to need to soothe his throat later.

Immediately, he began to pant.

"But you have two Rhyhorns..." stated Lucy.

"What?" asked Giovanni.

Curious, Giovanni realized that she was referring to the different species of Pokemon that he was using, not how many Pokemon he had on hand.

"Oh..." said the Gym Leader.

"Wait, don't you have a Persian too?" inquired the girl.

Giovanni collapsed.

"Can we...please battle now? I want to hurry up already..." answered the Gym Leader. He was looking forward to this final battle...though admittedly he wasn't sure whether he would win or not. He was talking about his biggest enemies here.

"Well, I suppose I do want to enter the Pokemon League..." stated Lucy. If she managed to defeat the Gym Leader (who surprise surprise, turned out to be Giovanni), she would get to enter the Pokemon League.

But of course, if she lost against Giovanni, she would probably have to start over from scratch...since he would likely take her Pokemon away from her.

Now that he was done showing off his Pokemon, he withdrew four of them into their Pokeballs.

Immediately, Giovanni sent one of his Rhyhorns to attack Lucy's Pokemon.

Fortunately for her, she happened to have some powerful Pokemon now that she had gotten this far.

She was glad that she was that strong, really. Otherwise she might have lost her Pokemon to Team Rocket by now.

Quickly, she sent out her Golduck.

"Golduck!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"Rhyhorn, Horn Attack!" bellowed Giovanni.

Rhyhorn nodded, and charged straight towards Golduck.

However, Lucy countered by having Golduck use Surf.

Rhyhorn did not like that. At all.

"Rhyhorn!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

"Using water Pokemon against me, are we? Very clever..." noted Giovanni. Of course, he wouldn't be the last of the Gym Leaders if he weren't a powerful Pokemon trainer. He might still be able to handle Lucy and her Pokemon.

Fortunately for Rhyhorn, due to the fact that he was rather resilient, he was still ready to fight.

This time, he tried using Earthquake, nearly knocking Golduck off his feet.

"Golduck!" exclaimed the water Pokemon, shaking his arms back and forth.

However, Golduck kept fighting as well.

He used Bubblebeam, and this time Rhyhorn fainted.

"Grr...I'm not losing that easily!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Of course not..." nodded Lucy. It would be embarrassing for him if she defeated him easily in front of all his Team Rocket Grunts.

This time, he sent out his Dugtrio.

"Trio trio trio!" exclaimed the Dugtrio.

Lucy tried having Golduck use Bubblebeam, but the Dugtrios kept on burying underground so that he couldn't hit them.

"That's one smart Dugtrio..." noted Lucy.

Dugtrio then used Fissure. Unfortunately, Golduck was still preoccupied with using Bubblebeam and he ended up falling right through.

He hit the ground and he fainted.

"Uh-oh! Golduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. You think he would have noticed the ground collapsing underneath him.

Well, there was no use crying over spilled milk...if the milk in her refrigerator WAS awfully refreshing. She was going to have to send another Pokemon and hope that they did better.

In this case, she decided to fight fire with fire, or ground type with ground type as the case may be.

In fact, she was going to use the exact same Pokemon that Giovanni was using.

"Go, Dugtrio!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Dugtrio!" bellowed the three Digletts.

"Trying to beat me at my own game, are we? We'll just see about that..." stated Giovanni.

Giovanni tried having his Dugtrio use Fissure again...but Lucy's Dugtrio simply dug out of the way in order to avoid it. Apparently, it could detect vibrations in the ground better than Golduck could, on account on being a full ground type and all.

In retaliation, Lucy had her Dugtrio use Earthquake.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, his Dugtrio was still underground when it went off.

As a result, his Pokemon fainted.

"Dugtrio..." murmured the three Digletts.

Frustrated, Giovanni withdrew his fainted Pokemon so that he could send out yet another Pokemon.

This time, he went with a Pokemon that was more poisonous.

"Go, Nidoking!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Nidoking!" bellowed Giovanni's Nidoking, hitting his fists together.

"I wonder why boy and girl Nidorans have completely separate Pokedex entries..." stated Lucy.

"I'm not the one who invented the Pokedex...though admittedly some of my scientists do study Pokemon..." answered Giovanni.

Clefairy shivered. She did not look forward to potentially being experimented on if she and Lucy lost.

Meanwhile, Jake was still fighting against Jessie and James. Since their Lickitung and Victreebel were both unable to battle, Jessie and James withdrew them and sent out their main battling Pokemon, Arbok and Weezing.

"Arbok!" exclaimed the cobra Pokemon.

"Weezing!" bellowed the poison gas Pokemon.

"I see that you brought your starter Pokemon for this fight..." answered Jake.

"Well, technically, my starter Pokemon was a Growlithe..." stated James.

"That's what Officer Jennies typically use...how ironic..." said the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"I know..." nodded the blue-haired criminal.

Immediately, James ordered his Weezing to use Self-Destruct.

However, Grimer and Machamp were smart and ran away to avoid it.

Unfortunately for James, he ended up hitting Jessie's Arbok instead.

As such, they both ended up fainting.

"James, what were you thinking?" asked Jessie.

"I was aiming for the twerp's Pokemon!" exclaimed James.

"I hope you're happy! We've lost!" bellowed the female Team Rocket Grunt.

"Meowth, that's right!" shouted Meowth. Of course, losing wasn't something that was new to them.

Happy that he had won, Jake recalled his Pokemon and went to search for Lucy.

Hopefully Lucy hadn't had her Pokemon taken away from her. That would make her flip. They were her true companions.

Back at where Lucy and Giovanni were fighting with their Pokemon, Nidoking was trying to pummel Dugtrio with his fists. However, he was proving difficult to hit.

"Trio trio trio!" bellowed Dugtrio. This was kind of fun...of course, Pokemon battles were for competitive sport...except for times like this when they were up against a Pokemon criminal. Apparently not all Pokemon battles would be fun, especially if the Pokemon trainer lost.

"Try using Dig...you are known as Dugtrio after all..." answered Lucy.

Dugtrio nodded. That WAS something that they specialized in.

Immediately, they dug underneath Nidoking and sent him flying.

Nidoking was sent a few feet away from where Dugtrio resurfaced, the breath knocked out of him.

"Yes!" cheered Lucy.

However, as Nidoking got up, he accidentally hit Lucy's Dugtrio with his tail.

Oddly enough, this caused Dugtrio to faint. Nidoking's tail was very strong indeed.

"Dugtrio..." murmured Lucy's Dugtrio. Why couldn't he have more HP?

"That wasn't what I commanded my Nidoking to do, but oh well." answered Giovanni.

"Yeah...oh well." noted Lucy as she withdrew her Dugtrio.

Perhaps it was time to send out her Alakazam. Since Nidoking was a bruiser, maybe Alakazam would know what to do. Alakazams did do well against Machamps after all, though admittedly their physical defense and attack wasn't as high as theirs was.

Immediately, she sent out her Alakazam.

"Alakazam!" exclaimed Lucy.

Fortunately, this seemed to be effective. Nidoking couldn't get close to Alakazam without his psychic powers knocking him backwards.

Speaking of which, Alakazam was about to hit Nidoking with Psychic.

"Nidoking!" exclaimed Giovanni's Nidoking.

It was a critical hit, and Giovanni's Nidoking fainted.

Frustrated that he had lost three of his Pokemon, Giovanni decided to send out his Nidoqueen.

"Nidoqueen!" exclaimed the poison and ground Pokemon.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Nidoqueen was faster than Nidoking was, so she could approach Alakazam for an assault quicker.

As such, Alakazam was having a harder time holding her back.

Suddenly, he ended up dropping his spoons.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Alakazam needed to be more careful.

"Alakazam..." murmured Lucy's Alakazam. This was a real embarrassment. Should he have stayed as an Abra for a while longer?

This gave Nidoqueen the opportunity to strike Alakazam down.

Alakazam fainted.

Lucy sighed. It looked like she was going to have to send out yet another Pokemon.

This time, she sent out her Venusaur.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"You know your type advantages, don't you?" asked Giovanni.

"Of course I do...how else would I beat the other seven Gym Leaders?" questioned Lucy.

"Good point..." nodded the eighth Gym Leader.

Immediately, Lucy ordered her Venusaur to charge up for a Solarbeam.

Giovanni's Nidoqueen charged towards Venusaur, but Lucy had her Venusaur use her vines to hold Nidoqueen back, however long she could hold her off.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. That was a good strategy.

Since Nidoqueen was wrapped up in Venusaur's vines, she couldn't approach Venusaur...and she couldn't dodge the incoming Solarbeam either.

In fact, it was a critical hit.

Nidoqueen fainted.

"Nidoqueen..." murmured the poison and ground Pokemon. So much for her pride.

At this point, there was only one Pokemon left for Giovanni to send out.

In this case, it was his second Rhyhorn...which incidentally was his strongest Pokemon and by extension the stronger of the two Rhyhorns.

"Go, Rhyhorn!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Rhyhorn!" bellowed the rhino Pokemon.

Lucy noted that Venusaur was feeling rather tired after using that Solarbeam...maybe she should withdraw it into her Pokeball for the time being.

As such, she decided to withdraw her Venusaur and send out her Clefairy.

"You're not using your Venusaur? She has a type advantage..." questioned Giovanni.

"I figured she needed to rest after that battle..." noted Lucy.

Curious, Giovanni's Rhyhorn wondered why Giovanni never let HIM rest. He sure had participated in many Gym battles, albeit typically whenever Giovanni was losing. He usually sent out his other Pokemon first.

Then again, he hardly ever needed rest despite all the times he charged at his opponent.

Speaking of which, he was charging at Lucy's Clefairy now.

Lucy tried having Clefairy use Metronome to see if she got something lucky.

Unfortunately, she ended up using Flamethrower...which didn't deter Rhyhorn much.

On the other hand, Rhyhorn did end up getting burned.

Nonetheless, he managed to hit Clefairy and send her flying.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"You alright, Clefairy?" asked Lucy.

Clefairy nodded.

"Good, because he's coming for another charge! Maybe you should try using Metronome again..." suggested the female Pokemon trainer.

Clefairy agreed. Now seemed like a good time.

Immediately, Clefairy used Metronome. Maybe this time it wouldn't be a fire attack. It wasn't such a good idea to use moves that were ineffective against an opposing Pokemon. What if she tried to punch a Gastly?

This time, it was a fighting attack.

Clefairy Karate Chopped Rhyhorn.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Clefairy. Maybe she should practice karate.

"Good job, Clefairy...but you do realize that you're in range now, right?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy.

Sure enough, the angry Rhyhorn was now directly in front of her.

"Clefairy..." stated the fairy Pokemon. Perhaps she should have kept herself at a distance.

Angry at Clefairy, Rhyhorn decided to stomp her.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the wild Clefairy. She was getting messed up. That Rhyhorn was really tough.

On the other hand, considering that she had defeated seven Gym Leaders along with her Pokemon trainer, maybe she was tough too.

Believing Clefairy to be down, Rhyhorn began to walk away.

"Oh no! Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

However, Clefairy wasn't down yet.

Immediately, Clefairy waved her hands together once again.

This time, she got a Surf.

Caught by surprise, Rhyhorn ended up fainting.

Giovanni scowled. He had lost...for the third time.

Even so, he wasn't planning to give up. He had more weapons at his disposal than the five Pokemon that he had brought with him.

"This isn't over, Lucy!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"But I defeated your Pokemon..." stated Lucy.

"I still have some tricks up my sleeve..." answered the Gym Leader. "If you want your Earth Badge, then follow me..."

Giovanni immediately fled into a deeper section of the gym.

Curious, Lucy wondered if she should follow Giovanni alone. She didn't know what to expect.

Fortunately, at that very moment, Jake showed up.

"Hey there, Jake..." stated Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy. Did you defeat Giovanni?" asked Jake. If so, he was very proud of her. Of course, judging from the fact that Lucy still had her Pokemon (her Clefairy included), maybe he didn't need to ask her that.

"Yes, I did..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer. Nonetheless, it appeared that the final battle wasn't over as she thought. The Team Rocket Grunts were still fighting.

"I managed to take down his two Team Rocket flunkies Jessie and James...wait, if you defeated him, why don't you have the Earth Badge?" inquired Giovanni's former flunky.

"He said if I wanted it I needed to follow him...I figured it wasn't a good idea to do so alone though..." noted Lucy.

Jake nodded. That was a good idea.

Immediately, he followed Lucy to where Giovanni was.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James were showing Giovanni their latest invention.

"Let me guess, you also lost to the twerps..." stated the leader of Team Rocket.

Meowth sadly nodded. Of course, if Giovanni couldn't beat them, then how would they stand a chance?

"Look what we made! It's a Mecha-Persian!" exclaimed Jessie.

"I still say that it should have been a Mecha-Meowth..." answered James. Of course, they did already have a Meowth balloon, so maybe it was a bit redundant.

"We're going to pilot it so that we can take on the twerps!" bellowed Meowth. They were looking forward to it.

However, though admittedly he was impressed with what his grunts had built in such a short period of time, Giovanni had a better idea.

"I'M going to pilot it." stated Giovanni.

"YOU'RE going to pilot it?" asked Jessie. She thought that piloting mechs was supposed to be their job.

"Every time YOU pilot a mech, YOU blow it up!" bellowed the boss. It was really getting frustrating spending money n them only for them to end up in the scrapyard.

Maybe he should try getting insurance...though he supposed that Jessie and James MIGHT get accused of insurance fraud...not like it mattered since they were criminals.

"Since when has that happened?" inquired James.

"Let's watch the video, shall we?" asked Giovanni.

Immediately, Giovanni showed Jessie, James, and Meowth their various blunders when they tried wielding a mecha.

"What is this button for?" asked Meowth, pressing the big red button on the control panel.

Suddenly, the mecha exploded.

The next time they used a mech, they decided to build a Jigglypuff mech.

However, Ash, Misty, and Brock fell over laughing. It didn't look threatening at all! In fact, it looked rather cute! Of course, the same could be said about all Jigglypuff regardless of how well they did in a Pokemon fight.

And it didn't even have the option to sing either! So much for putting them to sleep so that they could snag their Pokemon. Didn't they realize what Jigglypuffs specialized in?

Incidentally, they had later tried using that exact same mecha against Chris...her real Jigglypuff was offended because she thought that Team Rocket was mocking her and promptly destroyed it single-handedly.

How did she do that, you ask? By pressing the self-destruct button. Yes, she was able to find it...it was on the Jigglypuff's face too. Maybe she thought that it was a zit.

And the day after that, they had decided to build an Oddish mecha.

But what's this? Oh no! The mecha had no arms! It immediately fell over and collapsed once it started to walk towards Ash Ketchum and his friends! Maybe they should have gone with a Pokemon that actually HAD arms...like a Machamp for instance. They have four arms!

And THE day after that, they had decided to build a Pikachu robot.

But what's this? It wasn't shockproof at all! Ash's Pikachu could destroy it easily because it was made of metal, which conducted electricity!

Perhaps Team Rocket didn't think ahead enough...

"Alright, boss. You can pilot the mecha..." stated James. Maybe they could try cheering Giovanni on instead. It might give him an edge in morale.

Giovanni immediately stepped into the mecha. Though admittedly it appeared that he wasn't going to be able to defeat the children in a Pokemon battle (as he had participated in many times before, on account on being a Gym Leader and all), maybe he could try defeating them in a mecha battle instead. They didn't even have a mech!

Oddly enough, though it appeared that Team Rocket were doomed to fail every time they fought against Ash Ketchum and his little friends, it was equipped with many different weapons...weapons that he could use to potentially exploit a Pokemon's weakness, such as a Flamethrower for grass-type Pokemon.

In other words, things looked good...or evil...or somewhere in-between?

"They'll never see it coming..." thought Giovanni.

_And that's the second part of this arc...in the next chapter, we're going to see Giovanni's ultimate weapon...of course, if you see the anime you probably already know what it is._


	55. Chapter 55: The Mecha-Persian

_In this chapter, Lucy and Jake are going up against the Mecha-Persian while Chris and Ned take on Butch and Cassidy...in other words, the final battle isn't over yet..._

_Of course, if it simply ended with the defeat of Giovanni's Pokemon, it would be just like the games and I figured I would be more creative than that._

**Chapter 55: The Mecha-Persian**

Jake and Lucy entered where Giovanni had shown them, hoping that they could get their Gym Badges along with their friends. Of course, they wondered if they should simply retreat and go back home.

But of course, they wanted to teach Giovanni a lesson about Pokemon cruelty. Maybe if he did some hard time he would treat them...nicer.

Curious, they noticed as they went down the hallway, things were getting dark. It was similar to how Giovanni had turned off the lights in his gym for dramatic effect.

Perhaps he was doing the same thing again.

Eventually, they reached their destination.

"So, you think this is where Giovanni wanted to meet us?" asked Lucy. She didn't see any sign of him.

"I believe so, yes." nodded Jake. If all his Pokemon had fainted, why did he still want to fight them? He wasn't planning on fighting them with his bare hands, was he? Jake never recalled Giovanni to be a black belt.

Something was not right.

They were about to find out just what he had in store for them.

Once again, the lights turned on.

This time, there was a Mecha-Persian waiting for them. Sure enough, it looked much like a giant Persian would, apart from the antenna on its head and the screws on the arms and legs.

"Wow..." stated Lucy.

"I guess Jessie and James built this for him..." said Jake.

Sure enough, it looked rather frightening. But they had gone too far to run away now. They had to defeat Team Rocket and save Kanto!

Unsurprisingly, Giovanni wished to have a chat with them.

"If it isn't the traitor and the girl I tried to ransom...I should have known that you would both show up to try to stop me..." answered Giovanni.

"We're going to disband Team Rocket once and for all!" exclaimed Jake.

"No more Pokemon cruelty!" bellowed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" shouted Lucy's Clefairy. Enough was enough...even if Team Rocket could PROBABLY take her back to space. They were known as Team Rocket after all.

"You and your resistance...I'm rather impressed. But no matter." noted Giovanni.

Immediately, the Mecha-Persian began to move towards them. Apparently, Giovanni was once again trying to take away their Pokemon.

"We might want to send out our Pokemon to combat this thing..." stated Jake.

"You think they have enough power to destroy the mech?" asked Lucy.

"Hopefully..." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt. It didn't look like it was going to go down easy. Of course, they couldn't really expect anything else after how many times they had thwarted Team Rocket's schemes.

Fortunately, there was a PC nearby that they could use to heal up their Pokemon by withdrawing and depositing them. It was rather surprising how that worked, but oh well.

Once again, Lucy and Jake got ready to fight.

In this case, they sent out their Machamp and their Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot!" exclaimed Lucy's Pidgeot.

"Machamp!" bellowed Jake's Machamp.

Unfortunately, Giovanni's Mecha-Persian got the first strike. slashing Pidgeot and Machamp with its claws.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed Lucy's Pidgeot. Unfortunately, she had lost several different feathers. At least they would grow back.

"Machamp!" exclaimed Jake's Machamp. Fortunately, she was rather resilient.

"We should have seen that one coming..." noted Jake. Persians were well-known for their tendency to fight with their claws, though they could learn other techniques.

However, Pidgeot and Machamp were willing to fight back, even if this wasn't your typical Pokemon battle.

Pidgeot immediately hit the Mecha-Persian with Wing Attack, while Jake's Machamp hit Mecha-Persian with a simple punch.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the Mecha-Persian was far more resilient than a typical Persian. All it did was cause a few screws to fall off the robot.

They were going to have to keep applying pressure if they wanted to win.

The Mecha-Persian smashed its paws against the ground, creating an Earthquake.

Fortunately for Pidgeot, this did not hurt her at all.

Unfortunately for Machamp, she didn't have the luxury of being a flying-type, meaning that she got hit by the attack.

"Machamp..." murmured the fighting Pokemon.

"Keep fighting!" exclaimed Jake.

Machamp nodded, and punched the Mecha-Persian.

This time, she hit it a bit harder, causing more screws to pop out.

Even so, it didn't seem like she was doing a lot of damage. Maybe she just needed to be persistent.

Curious, Jake wondered what the antenna on the Mecha-Persian's head was for.

He was about to find out.

Suddenly, the Mecha-Persian began to send a signal.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy. What was it doing?

Shortly afterwards, a few Team Rocket Grunts showed up.

"That antenna must be for sending reinforcements..." noted Jake.

Immediately, the Team Rocket Grunts got ready to fight them.

Meanwhile, Ned and Chris wondered where Lucy and Jake had wandered off too. At this point, the Team Rocket Grunts seemed to have lost their morale and weren't fighting back against them.

Shrugging, they decided to look around the gym for them.

However, they ran into Butch and Cassidy.

"Are you going to sing a song like Jessie and James did?" asked Chris.

"We're not really in the mood for that..." answered Butch.

"Fine by me..." stated the teenage girl.

"I kind of liked that song..." stated Ned.

Immediately, Butch and Cassidy sent out their Pokemon.

In this case, it was a Drowzee and Tentacruel respectively.

As such, Ned and Chris decided to send out theirs...even though they had already recalled theirs after they realized that the Team Rocket Grunts weren't fighting them. It was kind of annoying.

"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Chris's Jigglypuff.

"Eevee!" bellowed Ned's Eevee.

"You have a Drowzee now?" asked Ned.

"We figured we could use it to brainwash Pokemon sometime..." explained Butch.

"I don't think so..." answered Chris.

"Of course maybe we could start with yours..." stated Cassidy.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned.

Immediately, Drowzee attempted to hypnotize Chris's Jigglypuff and Ned's Eevee in order to make them their evil slaves.

However, Ned's Eevee knocked down Drowzee before he could so.

"Drowzee!" exclaimed Butch's Drowzee.

"Grrr..." murmured Butch. It appeared this battle wasn't going to be as easy as they thought. They were going to have to dirty their hands a bit...as usual.

Fortunately, Cassidy was there to give Butch a hand.

Immediately, she had her Tentacruel wrapped up Jigglypuff and Eevee with her tentacles.

"Oh no!" bellowed Ned.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Chris. Her pokemon were NOT getting brainwashed on her watch.

Once again, Butch's Drowzee attempted to brainwash Ned and Chris's Pokemon.

However, Jigglypuff tossed her microphone at Drowzee and hit him on the head, really hard.

"Drowzee..." murmured Butch's Drowzee. All of a sudden, he had a headache.

Likewise, Eevee bit Cassidy's Tentacruel with his teeth.

"Tentacruel!" exclaimed Cassidy's Tentacruel.

This forced Tentacruel to let go, allowing Jigglypuff and Eevee to continue fighting.

Unfortunately for Butch, now that Drowzee had a headache, he was having a hard time focusing his psychic powers.

"Drowzee..." murmured the psychic Pokemon. This really presented a problem.

Taking advantage of the situation, Ned had his Eevee attack Drowzee.

He bit Drowzee in the arm, really hard.

Unable to endure any more attacks, Butch's Drowzee fainted.

"Curse you!" bellowed Butch as he recalled his Drowzee. So much for getting Drowzee to do his bidding.

Well, he might as well try to take down Ned and Chris the old-fashioned way, even if he would be rather pragmatic.

As such, he decided to send out his Cloyster.

"Cloyster!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

"I wonder if my Shellder will beat your Cloyster..." stated Chris.

Chris withdrew her Jigglypuff and sent out her Shellder instead.

"Shellder!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Curious, Shellder noticed who she was up against.

She found out a few seconds later.

Immediately, she stopped sticking out her tongue. She was up against her evolution? This was rather scary.

However, Chris quickly noticed.

"C'mon, I thought you were tougher than that..." said Chris.

Shellder supposed that Chris had a point. She might be able to win if she simply played it safe. After all, she wasn't the only one that had a shell.

Meanwhile, Ned decided to withdraw his Eevee in order to use a Pokemon that had a type advantage.

In this case, it was his Raichu.

"Go, Raichu!" exclaimed Ned.

"Raichu rai!" bellowed Ned's Raichu, sparks flowing out of his cheeks.

"Using a type advantage? Typical." answered Cassidy. No wonder the Team Rocket Grunts said that he was rather smart, even if his Pokemon weren't as strong as his teammates.

Sure enough, Raichu was attacking Tentacruel with Thunderbolt, forcing Tentacruel to go on the defensive.

However, she managed to trip Raichu by using one of her tentacles.

"Raichu!" exclaimed Ned's Raichu, falling on his face.

Unfortunately for Ned, it appeared that Cassidy at some level knew about strategy...their schemes were more complex than the ones that Jessie and James came up with, after all.

"Use Toxic!" ordered Cassidy.

Tentacruel nodded, and used Toxic to poison Raichu.

"Rai...chu..." murmured Ned's Raichu. He wasn't feeling too well all of a sudden.

"I should really consider using a Pokemon that's resistant to poison..." noted Ned.

Cassidy laughed. At this rate, Raichu was going to faint before Tentacruel did. So much for the type advantage.

However, Ned wasn't willing to give up yet.

"Try using Body Slam!" ordered Ned.

Ned's Raichu nodded, and he ended up taking Tentacruel by surprise. She was expecting another electric attack.

Unfortunately, with Raichu directly on top of her, she was having a hard time grabbing him with her tentacles.

"C'mon!" bellowed Cassidy.

However, Butch's Cloyster was there to help.

Immediately, Cloyster Clamped Ned's Raichu's tail.

"Raichu!" bellowed Ned's Raichu.

Unsurprisingly, he grabbed onto his tail. That really hurt.

This gave Tentacruel an opportunity to knock Ned's Raichu off of her.

At this point, Raichu fainted from the poison.

Ned sighed. He was afraid that would happen. But at least he might have won that battle if Cloyster didn't step in.

Well, he might as well send in another Pokemon.

This time, he sent out his Gyarados.

"Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned's Gyarados.

"Your Gyarados may be big and strong...but we'll beat it!" bellowed Cassidy.

Suddenly, Butch's Cloyster clamped one of Cassidy's Tentacruel's tentacles.

"What was that for?" asked Cassidy.

"I can't help it...that little brat's Shellder confused my Cloyster!" bellowed Butch.

This gave Ned's Gyarados an opportunity to crunch Tentacruel.

Tentacruel fainted.

Chris's Shellder smiled. Her plan had worked.

As it turned out, Chris had noticed that Shellder was frightened at the idea of fighting her evolutionary form.

So, she decided to use confusion to make Butch's Cloyster fight Cassidy's Tentacruel instead.

She was surprised what she could do when she used her noggin instead of her fists...though she still preferred brawn over brain. She was different from her partner that way. Of course, that was what Ned was for when it came to Pokemon battles...

Now that her Tentacruel had gone down, Cassidy decided to send out her Raticate.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Cassidy's Raticate, chattering her teeth together.

Back at where the Mecha-Persian was, Jake and Lucy were fighting the Team Rocket Grunts.

"I wonder where Ned and Chris are..." answered Lucy.

"Maybe they were delayed like I was...I had to face Jessie and James to get here in case you've forgotten..." stated Jake.

"Oh yeah..." said the female Pokemon trainer. Well, she didn't want her Pokemon battles to be too easily. Otherwise she and her Pokemon wouldn't enjoy them as much.

Fortunately, the Team Rocket Grunts did not faint any of their Pokemon. For some strange reason they decided to use Pokemon that hadn't even been evolved yet.

However, they did wear Jake's Machamp and Lucy's Pidgeot down.

Suddenly, the antenna on the Mecha-Persian's head let out a strange sound.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy?" inquired Lucy's Clefairy.

A few seconds later, Jake's Machamp and Lucy's Pidgeot both started to feel rather confused. In fact, Lucy's Pidgeot was starting to see Pidgeys around her head. It was rather ironic.

"Oh no...he must be using the antenna to produce a Supersonic attack..." stated Jake.

Sure enough, Jake's Machamp and Lucy's Pidgeot began to fight each other instead of the mecha.

And unfortunately, Lucy's Pidgeot had a partial type advantage.

Jake's Machamp fainted.

"Oh no! Machamp!" exclaimed Jake.

"Sorry about that..." apologized Lucy.

Fortunately, upon realizing that she had accidentally knocked out Jake's Machamp, Lucy's Pidgeot was brought back to her senses.

"I think we should take down that antenna so that Giovanni doesn't get more reinforcements or confuse our Pokemon..." suggested Lucy.

Jake nodded. That was a good idea.

Immediately, Lucy's Pidgeot began to peck on the antenna on the Mecha-Persian's head.

Quickly, dents began to appear on it.

"Hey! Cut that out!" bellowed Giovanni.

Likewise, Jake decided to send out his Kangaskhan.

After he instructed his kangaroo Pokemon to attack the antenna...she immediately tossed her child on top of the Mecha-Persian's head.

"You're awfully strong, but are you sure your child will be alright?" asked Jake.

"Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Jake's Kangaskhan.

"Oh, that's right. I guess the antenna lacks a defense system other than confusion..." answered the former Team Rocket Grunt.

With the young Kangaskhan's help, the antenna was destroyed.

The young Kangaskhan crawled down the mecha and returned to her mother's pouch shortly afterward.

"Good job..." stated Jake.

Without the antenna, Giovanni realized that he was now at a disadvantage.

It looked like he was just going to have to use a different weapon the Mecha-Persian possessed.

Fortunately, the Mecha-Persian also had some weapons in its mouth.

In this case, it decided to fire a Bubblebeam.

"Watch out for the bubbles!" warned Lucy.

Lucy's Pidgeot nodded. She began to fly around to avoid them.

Oddly enough, the baby Kangaskhan inside her mother's pouch seemed rather fascinated by the bubbles. They were making her laugh.

Curious, Jake noticed that the Mecha-Persian seemed to be going for another assault.

This time, it was shooting out bullet seeds.

Fortunately for Lucy's Pidgeot, that particular type of technique would not hurt her much.

However, Kangaskhan did at some level have something to worry about, especially since she was a bigger and slower target than Pidgeot was.

"Kanga kanga kangaskhan!" exclaimed Kangaskhan as she was hit with the bullet seeds.

"Should we try to take those down too?" asked Jake.

"They might be harder since there are more of them..." stated Lucy.

It appeared that there were several different weapons inside the Persian's mouth. They weren't sure which one Giovanni was going to use next.

They were about to find out.

As it turned out, there was also a Rock Blaster inside the mouth of the Mecha-Persian.

And unfortunately, Lucy's Pidgeot was weak to that sort of Pokemon technique.

She got shot down...and fainted.

"Oh dear...at least you managed to take down that antenna..." stated Lucy as she recalled her Pidgeot into the Pokeball.

Perhaps she needed a Pokemon that could counter that Mecha-Persian's projectile techniques...

Fortunately, she had an idea of what Pokemon she could use next.

"Go, Alakazam!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Alakazam!" bellowed Lucy's Alakazam.

"Use Barrier!" ordered the Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Alakazam nodded, and used Barrier to shield both himself and Jake's Kangaskhan.

"Grrr..." murmured Giovanni. When he tried launching an Icicle Spear attack, it simply bounced off the barrier.

The same thing happened when he tried using Pin Missile.

Getting desperate, he decided to use the most deadly weapon in the Mecha-Persian's mouth.

Immediately, he charged up for a Hyper Beam.

"It looks like the Barrier is protecting my Alakazam pretty well..." answered Lucy.

"Wait, what's that it's charging?"

Curious, Jake took a look...and realized what attack it was going to use.

"Uh-oh..." answered Jake.

As it turned out, it was using Hyper Beam.

And unfortunately, Alakazam was hit dead-on. It pierced right through the Barrier.

Alakazam fainted...for the second time today.

"Alakazam..." murmured Lucy's Alakazam. Not again!

On the lighter side of things, it appeared that Giovanni's Mecha-Persian was now temporarily inactive. It had used up a lot of power.

"Darn it! Even mecha Pokemon have to rest after using that technique!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Looks that way..." nodded Jake.

Not only that, but all the weapons inside the Mecha-Persian's mouth had been destroyed...it looks like it was going to have to use different Pokemon techniques.

It looked like now was the time to go on the offensive.

Elsewhere in the gym, Chris and Ned were trying to wrap-up their battle with Butch and Cassidy. They didn't want to take too long. Lucy and Jake were probably waiting for them.

Who knows what Giovanni had in store for the duo.

Unfortunately for Butch, he was not planning on letting Shellder confuse Cloyster again.

immediately, he had Cloyster launch Icicle Spears at Shellder, which made her faint.

"Shellder..." murmured the water Pokemon.

"Maybe this would be easier if I had my own Cloyster..." answered Chris. How did she make a Shellder evolve again? Perhaps she should check with Professor Oak. Maybe he knew.

Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything about it now. She was just going to have to send out another Pokemon and hope for the best.

As such, she decided to send out her Tauros.

"Tauros!" exclaimed the bull Pokemon.

Maybe he would stand a chance against Cassidy's Raticate, at least. She knew how ferocious a Tauros could be.

However, Raticate was faster than Tauros was.

Immediately, she bit Tauros on the leg.

But unfortunately for Raticate, this made the side effect of making Tauros angry.

"You mess with Tauros, you get the horns!" exclaimed Chris.

Sure enough, Tauros charged towards Raticate.

Unsurprisingly, Butch's Cloyster attempted to toss icicles at Tauros in order to impede him.

Cloyster ended up freezing Tauros' hooves, stopping him in his tracks.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Chris. For a second she thought that she would be able to hit Raticate. But maybe not.

Tauros attempted to break free...but by the looks of it, it would take some time before the ice melted. Where was the air conditioning?

Suddenly, Gyarados hit Cloyster with a Thrash attack.

"Cloyster!" bellowed Butch's Cloyster. Perhaps he should have watched out for Gyarados as well.

Frustrated that Tauros was out of commission, Chris decided that she had no choice but to withdraw him.

As such, she decided to send out her Gengar instead. Incidentally, Cloyster looked a bit like a Gastly.

"Gengar!" bellowed Chris's Gengar.

Sure enough, Cloyster was using his shell to protect himself from Gyarados's attack.

However, Chris wondered if it would protect him from a Shadow Ball.

"Try using Shadow Ball!" ordered Chris.

Gengar nodded, and tossed a Shadow Ball at Cloyster.

As it turned out, the Shadow Ball phased right through the shell.

Cloyster was hit...and he fainted.

"Grrr...this isn't over!" bellowed Butch.

However, he and Cassidy noted that neither of their remaining Pokemon were cut out to fight a ghost type...normal and fighting Pokemon didn't hurt a ghost type at all.

On the other hand, ghost attacks did not hurt normal types, either.

"Go, Primeape!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

"Primeape!" bellowed Butch's Primeape.

Unsurprisingly, Butch's Primeape was rather angry. Of course, considering that his trainer's other two Pokemon had gone down before him, maybe that wasn't such a surprise.

Primeape immediately swung his fists at Gengar.

However, he forgot something important.

"Primeape?" questioned the monkey Pokemon.

"Gengar!" smiled Chris's Gengar. Now he was in range.

Immediately, he licked Primeape in the face.

"Primeape..." murmured Butch's Primeape. All of a sudden, he wasn't feeling so angry anymore. In fact, he felt rather...sick.

This was then followed by Chris's Gengar hitting Primeape with a Shadow Ball.

"Primeape!" bellowed the monkey Pokemon.

Primeape fainted.

"Darn it! I'm out of the fight!" bellowed Butch.

"I think I might be out of the fight too..." answered Cassidy.

"What?!" exclaimed the male Team Rocket Grunt.

As it turned out, Raticate was being chased by Gyarados. Clearly, she was quite frightened of him.

Eventually, Gyarados caught Raticate with his teeth, and she fainted.

"Fine, you win. But I doubt your friends will win...Giovanni's piloting a giant mech...which personally I think we should have built instead of Jessie and James..." answered Cassidy.

"Why does Giovanni keep them around anyway?" asked Butch. Personally he thought that he should simply fire them from the organization before they spent any more of Team Rocket's hard-earned stolen cash on their faulty mechas.

"Giovanni's piloting a giant mech? I think we had better help Lucy and Jake..." noted Ned.

"You're probably right...though I doubt that they would lose a Pokemon battle with Giovanni...a giant mecha seems like another thing entirely..." answered Chris.

Personally she wondered where Ash Ketchum was. He had a lot of experience in destroying mechas. If they were lucky, Pikachu MIGHT be able to shortcircuit the Mecha-Persian.

But since Ash Ketchum did not appear to be here (and he had most probably already had the Earth Badge at this point), they decided that they would simply have to fight without him...at least for the time being.

"Let's get going, shall we? Giovanni's waiting for us...and I don't want to disappoint him..." said Chris.

Ned nodded. It was time to make a stand.

Together, they headed towards where Lucy and Jake were fighting...and where Giovanni's Mecha-Persian was.

_And the Mecha-Persian has gone down...but Giovanni has one more trick up his sleeve...and yes, just one more trick. Next time we're going to see the end of the final battle, I promise...it's going to be a doozy though, I can tell you that._

_And yes, I used Butch's Drowzee from when he attempted to brainwash Pokemon into doing his bidding from him. Fortunately, Officer Jenny's Gastly was immune._

_In fact, it's going to be legendary! Heh heh heh...but before you ask, none of the Legendary Birds are going to show up. It's a different Pokemon entirely..._


	56. Chapter 56: The Ultimate Pokemon

_In this chapter, Lucy and her friends are going to face...the ultimate Pokemon! Yes, you probably know which one it is...and yes, it's even worse than the Mecha-Persian. And it was all because Team Rocket wanted to create the world's strongest Pokemon. In retrospect maybe that wasn't such a good idea. At least it makes for a good Pokemon to use against the Elite Four..._

**Chapter 56: The Ultimate Pokemon**

"This Mecha-Persian sure is strong..." noted Lucy. For her next Pokemon she had decided to send out her Lapras.

"Lapras!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. Hopefully having a rare Pokemon that not too many Pokemon trainers had seen out in the wild would give Lucy an advantage.

"Did you get that from Silph Co?" questioned Giovanni. He heard that they were giving out Lapras...but only to those that were experienced Pokemon trainers. The Lapras needed some time to recover from how many Pokemon trainers had captured them.

"Yes. It's rather ironic." answered the female Pokemon trainer. Whatever helped against the Mecha-Persian, she supposed.

"And to think Jessie and James built it..." answered Jake.

At this point, the Mecha-Persian was leaping across the entire battiefield, making it difficult to hit.

Lucy wondered if there was a way that she could stop the Mecha- Persian in its tracks.

"Hmm..." thought the Pokemon trainer.

Suddenly, it leapt on top of Kangaskhan, causing her to faint easily, much to Lucy's surprise.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She did not see that one coming.

"Oh no! Kangaskhan!" exclaimed Jake. And to think that she was such a strong Pokemon too. At least her infant Kangaskhan appeared to be fine, though admittedly she was rather upset that her mother had fainted.

Once again, it appeared that another Pokemon of his had fainted. He was going to have to send out another one.

Well, he might as well use a Pokemon that would be useful for this particular situation.

Shrugging, he decided to send out his Hypno. Perhaps he would be useful for this situation.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Mecha-Persians did not need to go to sleep.

So, he was going to have to improvise.

"Are there any other psychic techniques you would like to do other than hypnosis? I know that's your speciality...but it's not really effective against machines..." answered Jake.

Hypno began to think of a solution. Fortunately, he had an idea of how to hit such a mobile opponent.

Immediately, his eyes glowed purple.

Oddly enough, it appeared that nothing had happened...at least not yet.

"Why didn't Hypno attack?" asked Lucy.

"Wait for it..." stated Jake.

Shortly afterward, Giovanni's Mecha-Persian was hit with a psychic attack from nowhere.

"Ah, you used Future Sight! Very good!" exclaimed the former Team Rocket Grunt.

This attack caused the Mecha-Persian to shut down.

"Aargh! The Mecha-Persian!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"Does this mean we win?" asked Lucy.

"Not quite..." answered the gym leader. As it turned out, there were some techniques that Giovanni could use without drawing power from the Mecha-Persian.

Quickly, he pressed a button.

Shortly afterwards, a bunch of Mecha-Meowths emerged from the Mecha-Persian's mouth.

They immediately started to attack Jake and Lucy's Pokemon.

Incidentally, they appeared to be carrying valuables. Perhaps Jessie and James had used this mecha before Giovanni piloted it...without blowing it up, oddly enough.

Hypno fainted.

"Not another one..." remarked Jake. Still, one would have to admit that shutting down the Mecha-Persian with Future Sight WAS pretty impressive.

On the plus side, many of the Mecha-Meowths had already been destroyed. One of them had even dropped a Leaf Stone.

Suddenly, Jake had an idea.

Immediately, he sent out his Gloom, and pointed out the Leaf Stone that was on the floor.

Jake's Gloom picked it up...and became a Vileplume.

"Grr..." murmured Giovanni. He didn't think THAT would happen. Of course, that probably wasn't the only evolutionary stone that the Mecha-Meowths had. Those robot cats were bandits.

Immediately, Vileplume used Petal Dance.

The petals hit the Mecha-Meowths, causing them to shut down.

In retaliation, Giovanni activated the gas...the poison gas that is. It was being produced from the Mecha-Persian's mouth.

Fortunately, it appeared that it was only toxic to Pokemon. Giovanni wanted their Pokemon, not them.

"How are we breathing this stuff?" asked Lucy.

"Clefairy..." answered Lucy's Clefairy. At least her Pokemon trainer was alright. But she wasn't feeling so good.

Fortunately, Jake's new Vileplume could breathe the gas just fine as well. She was part poison type as well.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Giovanni. How could he have forgotten about that? Now that he thought of it, he was under the impression that Jake's Grimer would likely be immune to the poison as well. He was basically a big pile of sludge...toxic sludge.

Immediately, Vileplume used Petal Dance to attack the Mecha-Persian until the poison gas evaporated.

Giovanni was now very frustrated indeed.

"That does it! If I'm going down, I'm going out with a bang!" exclaimed Giovanni.

As it turned out, it was a self-destruct button.

However, unlike Jessie and James, he was not going to press it by accident. It was a desperation move.

Immediately, he pressed the button and hopped out of the vehicle.

Unsurprisingly, the mecha exploded, causing both Lucy's Lapras and Jake's Vileplume to faint. Lucy's Clefairy was thankfully safe from the blast as she was behind her Pokemon trainer the whole time.

"Clefairy..." stated Lucy's Clefairy. That was a rather big explosion. In fact, it shook the entire room.

"I'm feeling dizzy..." murmured Lucy.

"Me too." nodded Jake.

Sure enough, Chris and Ned heard the explosion and went to investigate.

"What happened? Why is there a mecha scattered all over the floor?" asked Chris.

As it turned out, the Mecha-Persian had been reduced to scrap metal.

"It must be another one of Team Rocket's mechas..." noted Ned.

"It certainly put up a fight..." acknowledged Lucy.

"So, is the final battle finally over?" asked Jake.

"Not quite..." answered Giovanni.

"When will this end?!" exclaimed Chris. She wanted the Earth Badge already.

"Come with me, shall we? Now that you're all here I've got a surprise for you..." stated the man.

Immediately, he directed them to another chamber.

This time, it was the end of the gym.

"Finally...now we can end this final battle and get over with it..." stated Chris.

Sure enough, Giovanni was sitting on a chair once again. This time, he was watching the action from afar along with his Persian.

He had a very wide grin on his face.

"Right...I think this is the finale we've all been waiting for! Why don't you say hello to the ultimate Pokemon!" bellowed Giovanni.

"Ultimate Pokemon?" asked Lucy. This didn't sound good...it might be even stronger than the mecha that they had faced earlier.

Suddenly, a Pokemon stepped out of its chambers.

It was dressed in body armor, so they couldn't recognize it.

However, Jake's Pokedex was vibrating heavily.

Nervously, Jake decided to use it.

"Mewtwo, the Genetic Pokemon. It was created by a scientist after years of horrifying gene splicing and DNA engineering experiments..." said the Pokedex.

"This doesn't sound good..." noted Jake.

Suddenly, each of the four's Pokedexes went to static.

Giovanni laughed.

"I'd like to see you win this time..." stated Giovanni.

It quickly became apparent that the last stage of the final battle was going to be the hardest. They were all going to have to work together for this one, apparently.

Fortunately, since Giovanni believed that they were never going to win, he had a Chansey fully heal their Pokemon and let them use a PC to switch out to suit the battle. They had no idea why a Chansey would be working with Giovanni, but they decided not to question it. They were going to need it.

Speaking of Chansey, Ned decided to send out his.

Likewise, Chris sent out her Onix.

Jake sent out his Blastoise. Already, water was dripping out of her cannons.

Lucy sent out her Lapras.

"Lapras!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. Apparently, she was going to enter a Pokemon battle twice on the same day. Oh well. She was feeling fine after that medical treatment that Chansey gave her.

"You're still going to fight me? You should know how futile it is..." stated Giovanni. He was the greatest criminal mastermind in the world...or in Kanto anyway. He wasn't so sure about the other nations.

"If my creator wishes for your Pokemon to become his...then I shall obey!" exclaimed Mewtwo.

"You created that Pokemon?" asked Lucy.

"Well, technically my scientists created the Pokemon, but yes." nodded the man. He was so happy that the experiment was a success...though he would have liked it if the laboratory was still intact.

Immediately, Ned's Chansey tossed an egg bomb at Mewtwo, causing him to flinch.

Likewise, Jake's Blastoise used a Hydro Pump.

Lucy had Lapras use Ice Beam.

And finally, Chris's Onix used Rock Slide.

However, though they attacked together, Mewtwo did not seem to be injured much. On the lighter side, his battle armor now had a dent on it.

They started to wonder what Mewtwo looked like underneath his armor.

Unfortunately for Lucy, Jake, Ned, and Chris, it appeared that Mewtwo was starting to fight back.

Suddenly, their Pokemon found themselves being lifted into the air.

They were sent crashing to the ground shortly afterwards. It was a rather strong Psychic attack.

And unfortunately, Mewtwo was going for some more. Mewtwo was indeed a very powerful Pokemon. How many mad scientists did Team Rocket have on their side, anyway?

Quickly, it hit Ned's Chansey with Brick Break. Unfortunately, attempting to defend against that attack was rather futile. It always broke through Pokemon barriers and the like.

Though Ned's Chansey had high Sp. Defense to help her defend against Mewtwo's psychic attacks, the same could not be said for a fighting attack.

Ned's Chansey fainted.

"Oh no! Chansey!" exclaimed Ned.

Giovanni smirked.

"Well, I guess I better return it to its Poke-"

Suddenly, a rather strange looking Pokeball appeared from Mewtwo's hand.

Ned wondered what was going on...when suddenly the Pokeball flew towards Chansey and captured it.

Ned gasped in shock.

Giovanni laughed.

It then returned to Mewtwo.

"Oh no! Every time one of our Pokemon faints, Giovanni's going to capture it!" exclaimed Ned.

"Due to the fact that your Pokemon seem so strong, I think I just might be making more than one clone..." stated Giovanni.

"Mewtwo's a clone?" asked Lucy.

"In case it's not obvious, Mewtwo was cloned directly from Mew...I have to admit, it took us forever and a day, but we finally managed to find it. And when we managed to clone it, let's just say that Team Rocket became dreaded throughout Kanto for a reason..." said the man.

"Oh my..." stated Jake. With Mewtwo on their side, who knew what Team Rocket was capable of?

Well, it looked like they were going to have to stop him here and now. If they managed to defeat Mewtwo, maybe they could finally defeat Team Rocket once and for all.

Of course, that was not going to be an easy task.

Though Ned was upset that his Chansey had been captured by the enemy, he realized that she would want him to continue onward. Besides, his friends needed his help.

As such, he decided to send out his Raichu. Hopefully he would be able to stop Mewtwo before all of his Pokemon ended up being captured.

"Use Thunder Wave!" exclaimed Ned. Hopefully, this would slow Mewtwo down.

Raichu nodded and used Thunder Wave to paralyze Mewtwo.

However, this did not slow Mewtwo down much.

In retaliation, he hit Raichu with Earthquake.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. How many Pokemon techniques did Mewtwo know?

Then again, he did have the DNA of one of the strongest legendary Pokemon there was. It was the strongest Pokemon in Kanto...though it admittedly wasn't always in Kanto. Sometimes Mew liked to go exploring.

Raichu fainted.

Once again, Ned lost another Pokemon to the Mewtwo Balls.

Mewtwo took the Mewtwo Ball for himself.

However, this time he did more than simply take away Ned's Pokemon.

This time, he began to use his psychic energy with the Pokeballs.

Shortly afterward, a cloned version of Pikachu appeared. Fortunately, Mewtwo was not using a large amount of Pokemon DNA yet, so though the clone had Raichu's DNA, it was not in his fully evolved form and was still a Pikachu.

Nonetheless, it might put up a fight.

"Like it? As a side effect of the cloning chambers I used, Mewtwo has the ability to make clones of other Pokemon as well. The more DNA he gets, the stronger the Pokemon he can make!" exclaimed Giovanni.

"It sounds like we need to be careful about how many Pokemon we lose to Mewtwo then..." noted Jake.

Immediately, the cloned Pikachu began to attack the three Pokemon on the field.

Lapras fired an Ice Beam just as Pikachu launched a Thunderbolt.

Both Pokemon fainted.

Mewtwo tossed another Mewtwo Ball to capture Lapras.

"Oh no! Lapras!" exclaimed Lucy. Lapras was a very rare species of Pokemon too. Perhaps their trainers should breed the Lapras a bit more.

On the other hand, if Mewtwo was planning to clone Lapras, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. It would be a good solution to the Lapras population decreases, though Lucy wondered if all the Lapras should look the same.

Giovanni laughed. It was only a matter of time before Mewtwo had enough DNA to create another cloned Pokemon...and knowing Mewtwo he would give the Pokemon some perks to give it an advantage.

Ned and Lucy decided that they should send out another Pokemon. Maybe they could win if they gave it everything they got.

Still, Mewtwo still looked like it was able to battle. They needed to do a lot more damage if they wanted to break Mewtwo's armor and then attack Mewtwo directly.

"Go, Arcanine!" exclaimed Ned.

"Go, Venusaur!" bellowed Lucy.

"Arcanine!" bellowed Ned's Arcanine.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed Lucy's Venusaur.

Immediately, Lucy had Venusaur use Sunny Day too boost Arcanine's fire attacks...and to let her use Solarbeam.

Arcanine hit Mewtwo with Flamethrower, causing burn marks to appear on Mewtwo's armor.

Likewise, Chris's Onix hit Mewtwo with Earthquake.

Mewtwo was nearly knocked off his feet.

Blastoise hit Mewtwo with Surf.

At this point, Mewtwo's armor was starting to spark. It appeared that they had successfully done some more damage.

However, Mewtwo was not planning to give up yet.

In retaliation, Mewtwo hit Chris's Onix with Water Pulse.

Chris's Onix fainted at once...thanks to its horrible type disadvantage to water and grass.

"Onix..." murmured Chris's Onix.

Mewtwo took Chris's Onix for himself.

"Hey! Nobody steals my Pokemon!" exclaimed Chris. Those Pokemon were hers and hers alone...unless for some strange reason she decided to trade her Pokemon. It was the only way to catch them all, after all.

"Too bad." stated Giovanni.

"Grr..." murmured the female Pokemon trainer. She wasn't going to let Giovanni get away with this.

Unfortunately, Mewtwo then hit Blastoise with a Thunderbolt.

Blastoise fainted.

Of course, Mewtwo got access to Blastoise as well.

Now that he had three more Pokemon to get DNA from, Mewtwo started cloning again.

"Not good..." noted Ned.

This time, he made a Blastoise clone...however, this Blastoise clone was huge. It was about twice as large as a regular Blastoise, in fact.

Immediately, it hit Ned's Arcanine with Hydro Pump.

Ned's Arcanine fainted immediately.

As before, Mewtwo took away Ned's Pokemon. Now he only had three left.

Fortunately, Jake had an idea.

Immediately, he sent out his Machamp.

He then instructed Machamp to pick up the giant Blastoise.

Machamp did so.

"What? Put him down!" demanded Giovanni.

Instead, Jake had Machamp toss the giant Blastoise at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo was rather surprised at the occurrence.

Immediately, the giant Blastoise fell on top of Mewtwo, crushing him.

"Was this enough to make Mewtwo faint?" asked Lucy.

"Probably not. Mewtwo seems pretty resilient..." answered Jake. Still, it was a rather impressive attack.

Sure enough, Mewtwo managed to lift Blastoise off of him with his psychic powers.

Since Blastoise proved to be a hindrance, Mewtwo dismissed her into a Mewtwo Ball.

Perhaps he needed to try something different. His armor was starting to wear down. If it broke off, he would be vulnerable to attack...though admittedly he did know how to Recover.

Immediately, it took Chansey's Pokeball and used to it to heal his paralysis.

"Oh no!" bellowed Ned. Apparently, he managed to take advantage of Chansey's healing abilities.

However, Venusaur retaliated by poisoning Mewtwo.

"I am not feeling so well..." noted Mewtwo.

"That's because you're poisoned..." answered Giovanni.

"Of course I know that..." stated the psychic Pokemon. He WAS psychic after all.

In retaliation, he hit Venusaur with Flamethrower.

Lucy's Venusaur fainted.

Mewtwo then tossed a Mewtwo Ball at Venusaur so that he could collect her DNA too.

"Not another one!" bellowed Lucy. The more DNA Mewtwo got, the harder this battle was going to be.

Perhaps it was time to fight psychic with psychic.

Lucy sent out her Alakazam to fight Mewtwo as a result.

Sure enough, Alakazam and Mewtwo became locked in a battle of wills, hoping to overpower the other.

While they were occupied with each other, Ned sent out his Gyarados to fight.

Gyarados sank his teeth into Mewtwo's armor, tearing out a piece of it.

Curious, Lucy noted that Mewtwo was a light shade of purple underneath his armor. It was a bit odd considering that Mew was known to be pink from what little they knew about the Legendary Pokemon.

Unfortunately for Gyarados, Mewtwo knocked Gyarados back afterwards, though Gyarados did not faint.

Jake's Machamp punched another dent through Mewtwo's armor.

Likewise, Chris decided to send out her Charizard.

Immediately, he used his fire to roast Mewtwo's armor.

Though Mewtwo's armor turned orange for a moment, it was still intact.

However, Mewtwo's armor was starting to produce more sparks. It was likely going to need repairs after the battle even if Giovanni did win.

This time, Mewtwo used his telekinesis to take away Alakazam's spoons.

"Oh no! Alakazam!" exclaimed Lucy.

He then used his Psychic powers to make Alakazam faint.

Oddly enough, he didn't use his Mewtwo Balls to capture Alakazam.

"Why not the Mewtwo Ball?" asked Lucy.

"Why would I need another psychic Pokemon?" questioned Mewtwo.

"Ah..." stated the girl. That made sense.

Immediately, she withdrew Alakazam into her Pokeball. It looked like she had gotten a freebie. Still, she was worried about the other Pokemon that had been caught by Mewtwo and his Pokeballs of evil.

This time, Mewtwo created more clone Pokemon.

But instead of sending out one, he sent out two.

Two Onix, in fact.

"Oh man!" exclaimed Jake.

Fortunately, Jake's Machamp was proving to be rather effective.

However, Chris's Charizard was at a disadvantage.

Mewtwo was aware of this, and he sent his two Onixes after Charizard.

They both hit Charizard at the same time, and Charizard fainted.

"Charizard..." murmured the fire Pokemon.

Mewtwo then tossed a Mewtwo Ball at Charizard.

Now that he had all three of the Kanto starter Pokemon, he had an idea.

Immediately, he used their DNA to create three different clone Pokemon at once.

This time, it was the three Kanto starter Pokemon...each of which were in their fully evolved forms.

"We're surrounded!" exclaimed Ned.

"Don't assume we're giving up that easily..." stated Chris.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the cloned Blastoise.

"Charizard!" bellowed the cloned Charizard.

"Venusaur!" roared the cloned Venusaur.

"That's one impressive fighting force..." noted Lucy. Perhaps not as strong as the three Legendary Birds when they decided to work together for a change, but still a rather impressive fighting force nonetheless.

And to make matters worse, the two Onixs that had been cloned earlier were still on the field.

Fortunately, so was Machamp. Jake was surprised that his Machamp had lasted this long given the fact that Mewtwo was a Psychic type, but he decided not to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth.

Jake had his Machamp take down the two Onix by slamming their two heads together, thus evening the playing field more.

Frustrated, Mewtwo dismissed the two Onixes. He happened to know a cave in Cerulean where he could keep them...

In retaliation, he sent his three Pokemon to attack Machamp.

Immediately, Charizard hit Machamp with Blast Burn.

"Machamp!" exclaimed the champion Pokemon.

Blastoise followed this by hitting Machamp with Hydro Cannon, making Machamp faint.

Mewtwo then used his Mewtwo Ball to capture Machamp.

Likewise, Venusaur hit Gyarados with Frenzy Plant, though in Gyarados's case he didn't end up fainting.

"Ugh..." murmured Jake. How many Pokemon was Mewtwo going to steal?

Hopefully there was something that they could do about it.

Fortunately, as a side effect of using such powerful techniques, Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur were all feeling rather tired.

This gave Lucy and her friends an opportunity to fight back against Mewtwo.

Immediately, Lucy sent out her Ninetales and used it to attack Venusaur.

Venusaur fainted.

Likewise, Jake sent out his Vileplume and used it to attack Blastoise.

Blastoise fainted.

Finally, Chris sent out her Shellder and used it to attack Charizard.

Charizard fainted.

Mewtwo gasped in shock. How could his entire team of starter Pokemon lose like this?

Still, he was rather impressed with the friendship that the Pokemon trainers had. Now that Giovanni thought of it...didn't Giovanni say that he should focus on the power that a Pokemon had and that friendships were worthless?

He wasn't so sure if that was true anymore.

"Very impressive. But I'm going to end this..." stated Mewtwo.

Mewtwo immediately hit all four Pokemon with a Psychic, knocking the breath out of them.

However, they were still fighting.

"How can they resist me for so long?" thought the psychic Pokemon. Giovanni told him that he was the strongest Pokemon there is.

But perhaps even a Pokemon such as himself had its limits.

Suddenly, he felt something on his back.

Curious, he looked around, but he couldn't see it anywhere.

Oddly enough, Lucy felt like something was missing all of a sudden.

"Huh? Did someone leave?" asked Lucy.

A few seconds later, Mewtwo's armor came clean off.

Mewtwo gasped in shock. What happened to his armor?

Clefairy cheered. The armor was off and now they could make Mewtwo faint.

Giovanni was equally surprised at the occurrence. This had never happened before.

But of course, Giovanni was defiant to the end. As long as Mewtwo hadn't fainted, he would still be able to fight...and he would still be able to win this.

"This isn't over! Mewtwo, finish this!" exclaimed Giovanni.

Mewtwo nodded, and once again began using his psychic powers to attack the four Pokemon trainers' Pokemon.

"I can only wonder how this battle is going to end..." thought Ned. Encountering Legendary Pokemon was one thing...but actually fighting one? That seemed like a different story entirely.

_Mewtwo just isn't going down, is he? In the next chapter you're going to see how this battle turns out. I bet you're looking forward to it._

_Hopefully our heroes' efforts to get eight gym badges was not for nothing._


	57. Chapter 57: Fall Of Team Rocket

_I think you're going to like this chapter. Why you may ask? Well, if you've noticed the chapter title, you can probably guess what's going to happen. Yes, Team Rocket's going to be disbanded! In other words, the good guys have fought the bad guys and won...of course, Giovanni did manage to score a victory over Jake and Chris...but I can't make my protagonists invincible. That would make the story less entertaining._

_Afterwards, it's off to the Indigo Plateau!_

**Chapter 57: Fall Of Team Rocket**

Giovanni considered his options. Now that Mewtwo didn't have his armor, he had been significantly weakened. He might not be able to defeat the four that had gotten in his way in the past now.

Frustrated, he decided to take out his fury on Lucy, since she in question owned that Clefairy. She was going to pay, that was for sure. He was getting really tired of children always thwarting his schemes.

To be honest, he wasn't sure that trying to ransom her for money was worth it anymore. It was getting to be a lot of trouble, that was for certain. Lucy kept on getting stronger and stronger, and his Team Rocket Grunts simply couldn't take it, not even Butch and Cassidy.

Fortunately, he knew how to do it.

Immediately, he instructed Mewtwo to attack Clefairy with Psychic.

"No! Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy. Not even her starter Pokemon was safe from these maniacs. Maybe no Pokemon was.

Clefairy collapsed on the ground. Apparently, she had fainted.

Mewtwo then sent a Mewtwo Ball to capture Clefairy. Giovanni would probably be looking forward to cloning Clefairy considering how valuable Clefairies were.

Giovanni smiled. At least he would have his revenge...though he wondered if Clefairy prices had gone down as of late. The more meteor showers there were, the more Clefairy appeared...which resulted in deflation.

Lucy gasped in shock as the Mewtwo Ball flew towards the fairy Pokemon. Was she going to lose her starter for good?

The Mewtwo Ball kept on going and going...

Lucy began to sweat with anticipation...

The Mewtwo Ball came closer and closer...

...but at the last minute, Clefairy got back up.

Immediately, she pulled out a baseball bat.

Mewtwo widened his eyes in surprise. He was NOT expecting that to happen. Had Clefairy really not fainted?

"What are you-" exclaimed Giovanni.

Clefairy then used the baseball bat to send the Mewtwo Ball right back at Mewtwo.

Caught by surprise, Mewtwo ended up being captured by his own Pokeball.

There was a red light, and Mewtwo was sucked inside.

"Well, this is rather ironic." noted Jake. Of course, Mewtwo technically was a Pokemon himself, so he wasn't immune to being captured by a Pokeball.

Now that they thought of it...why didn't Pokeballs work on humans? Perhaps they could recognize DNA...not like he would ever try using one on Lucy or his friends. That would be kind of...rude.

However, they noticed that Mewtwo was struggling to get out.

Perhaps it would be best if they tried to stop him.

Giovanni smirked. Once Mewtwo got out, he would be ready to fight once again.

But at that very moment, Jake, Chris, and Ned sent out their starter Pokemon.

Likewise, Lucy had Clefairy grab onto Mewtwo's Pokeball to make it harder for him to escape.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy, clutching onto the Pokeball. Better not let go.

However, she was having a hard time keeping Mewtwo in by herself. It was a good thing she had help.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

"Go, Jigglypuff!" bellowed Chris.

"Go, Eevee!" shouted Ned.

"Grimer!" said Jake's Grimer, leaving behind a stain on the floor.

"Jigglypuff!" spoke Chris's Jigglypuff. She felt like singing a song.

"Eevee!" stated Ned's Eevee. He felt like rolling around the gym.

Immediately, they grabbed onto the Pokeball to keep Mewtwo from coming out. If they managed to hold it down long enough, Mewtwo would be caught.

Even so, it was still shaking. Mewtwo was one strong Pokemon...as their battle with him earlier would indicate. They were going to have to work harder if they wanted to defeat him for good.

"Resist it! Don't let the Pokeball catch you!" exclaimed Giovanni. It was a good thing that Mewtwo had a very low catch rate.

Mewtwo's Pokeball continued to shake.

As such, Lucy, Jake, Chris, and Ned decided to send out more Pokemon. The more help they had holding down the Pokeball, the better.

"Go, Butterfree!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Butterfree!" bellowed the butterfly Pokemon, flapping her wings in the air.

"Go, Raticate!" bellowed Jake.

"Raticate!" exclaimed Jake's Raticate. He had a hankering for some cheese. Too bad there didn't seem to be any inside of the gym.

"Go, Parasect!" shouted Chris.

"Parasect!" exclaimed Chris's Parasect. As usual, his mushroom was drawing nutrients from him.

"Go, Golem!" bellowed Ned.

"Golem!" exclaimed Ned's Golem. Her shell was as hard as ever.

Quickly, the four Pokemon grabbed onto the Pokeball. Hopefully, this plan would work.

Finally, Lucy decided to send out her Dratini.

"Dratini!" exclaimed the dragon Pokemon.

Immediately, he wrapped himself around the Pokeball. Unfortunately, he did not have hands.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Fortunately, their efforts were not in vain.

Eventually, there was a ding.

"What? No!" bellowed Giovanni. How could Mewtwo be caught by Pokemon trainers such as Lucy and her friends?

Mewtwo had been caught...by himself.

"This can't be happening!" exclaimed the Gym Leader. For once, Mewtwo had been beaten. And he had nothing else to throw at the four, either. It looked like he was finished.

"It's happening, alright." stated a voice.

Giovanni gasped. He recognized that voice.

As it turned out, it was Officer Jenny. Apparently, she had discovered that the Viridian Gym was secretly housing Team Rocket Grunts...and Giovanni himself.

"I never thought that you would be here...but wouldn't you know it, Jessie and James tipped us off..." said the officer.

"Figures..." thought Giovanni.

Immediately, Officer Jenny stuck handcuffs on Giovanni's wrists.

Jake noted that she seemed rather excited about this. Giovanni must have a lot to answer for.

"Time for you to go to the slammer!" bellowed Officer Jenny as she escorted Giovanni out of the gym.

"This is the worst day of my life..." remarked Giovanni., now feeling very depressed. He had been completely and utterly defeated and now it was the end of his criminal organization. Maybe somebody would try to revive Team Rocket one day, but he wasn't sure if that would happen or not.

"I bet it is..." stated Chris. Served Giovanni right.

_A few minutes later..._

As it turned out, Officer Jenny would be making more than one arrest that particular day. Giovanni and his Team Rocket Grunts were all being loaded into police vans.

Domino was bawling. She was too young to go to prison! And she couldn't believe that Giovanni had been caught by the police.

It actually appeared that Team Rocket was gone for good.

"Well, I guess this is it for Team Rocket..." stated Jake.

"Wait, didn't you use to work for Team Rocket?" asked Lucy.

Oddly enough, none of the police officers were paying attention to him. It was as if he had never been part of Team Rocket in the first place.

Suddenly, Officer Jenny showed up.

"Um, hi?" asked Jake. It was funny meeting her like this.

"I must thank you for helping us arrest Team Rocket...Kanto is going to be a much better place to live in from now on..." noted Officer Jenny. The crime rate was going to take a nose dive, that was for certain. Who else was going to commit that many crimes in Kanto?

"Didn't I...you know, use to be part of Team Rocket?" questioned the boy.

"Well, due to the fact that you've spent so much effort in stopping them...we've decided to pardon you." answered the officer. Jake had done a good deed and she thought that he should be awarded for it.

Jake sighed in relief. Perhaps it was for the best that he was no longer part of Team Rocket. He could finally put that chapter of his life behind him.

And yet, he got the feeling that two Team Rocket Grunts were missing. Though he noticed that Butch and Cassidy were being arrested, he still got the feeling that two Team Rocket Grunts had given them the slip.

But which ones?

_Meanwhile..._

"I can't believe that Giovanni has been arrested!" exclaimed Jessie. What would they ever do without him? Of course, he did have a tendency to get angry at them when they messed up one evil scheme too many...but at least he wanted them to do better. Not only that, but they wouldn't have any more funding to build destructive mechas in order to capture Ash Ketchum's Pokemon. They were broke!

On the plus side, they had managed to escape while Officer Jenny was busy with the other Team Rocket Grunts. They had even witnessed Butch and Cassidy being arrested. Score!

However, they could very well be the only Team Rocket Grunts that weren't in her custody. It was going to be a rather lonely life, that was for sure. At least they still had each other...and perhaps the twerp. They were kind of friendly enemies at this point.

Well, they had better find a new home so that they could get away from the police. Officer Jenny would probably start looking for them once she realized that they had made their escape.

Perhaps they could go to Johto? It was technically the closest land to Kanto. Maybe Officer Jenny wouldn't look for them.

Quickly, they boarded their hot air balloon so that they could escape justice.

Shortly afterwards, the Meowth balloon began to fly away.

"Poor Giovanni...he's probably going to be spending the rest of his life in a dark, cold prison cell!" exclaimed James.

"To be fair, he always preferred his Persian over me..." answered Meowth.

"We're out of a job!" bellowed Jessie. Who else was going to hire them now? Maybe they would have to resort to becoming Magikarp salesmen.

Speaking of the Magikarp salesman, it appeared that he had packed up and gone elsewhere. Where could he have possibly gone?

Well, they decided that they could worry about that later. For now, it was time to fly away. It was only a matter of time before Officer Jenny started searching for them.

Immediately, the Meowth balloon began to speed off towards Johto.

Sure enough, Officer Jenny had not noticed what was going on...though the Meowth balloon WOULD be rather suspicious if anyone saw it.

"Yes! We're escaping!" cheered James, raising his hands in the air.

Suddenly, they ran into a flock of Beedrill. Apparently, they were rather hungry for honey...and it was abundant this time of year.

Quickly, their hand spears ended up piercing the Meowth balloon.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Jessie. Already, the air was beginning to leak.

The Meowth balloon quickly deflated, sending Jessie, James, and Meowth flying.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off to Johto!" bellowed Jessie and James in unison.

"Meowth! That's right!" exclaimed Meowth.

Back on the ground, Officer Jenny was giving the four their Earth Badges for defeating the evil man known as Giovanni, who for some strange reason was also the Viridian Gym Leader.

"Here are your Earth Badges. You deserve it for defeating Team Rocket..." stated Officer Jenny. It had been something that she and her squad had been trying to do for years.

"Yes! We're getting into the Pokemon League!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I know...it feels great." stated Chris.

"When does the Indigo Plateau Conference start again?" asked Ned.

"Don't worry, you still have time. The Indigo Plateau isn't far from here..." noted Officer Jenny.

"That's a relief..." nodded Jake. They didn't want to show up too late, even if there would likely be more Pokemon tournaments in the future just like there had already been Pokemon tournaments in the past.

Immediately, the four of them set out towards the Indigo Plateau.

However, Lucy remembered something.

"Didn't we leave Mewtwo back in Giovanni's Gym?" inquired Lucy.

"That's right. We did. Why do you ask?" asked Jake.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy. What was Lucy saying?

"Maybe we should let him out of that Pokeball...I'd probably go crazy from being in there for so long..." noted the young girl. Sure, Pokeballs were rather comfortable...but trained Pokemon were used to be sent out every once in a while so that they could battle another Pokemon trainer or help catch more Pokemon.

Besides, she didn't know what the inside of a Mewtwo Ball was like. Maybe it was dark and scary?

"I suppose you have a point...but didn't he work with Giovanni to take us down?" asked Ned.

"That's because Giovanni taught him that Pokemon were tools and not friends...maybe we could try to persuade him otherwise..." answered Lucy.

"Alright, but you had better know what you're doing..." stated Chris.

Lucy nodded.

Immediately, they went back into the gym. It was rather quiet now that all of the Team Rocket Grunts were all gone, to say the very least.

It was as if they had all vanished into thin air. Maybe there would be a new Gym Leader someday. They wondered who it would be.

Well, at least they didn't have to battle them anymore. They had fought a lot of Team Rocket Grunts in the past...

Quickly, they went over to the Mewtwo Ball and released Mewtwo.

Mewtwo shook his head.

"What happened?" asked the psychic Pokemon.

Fortunately, it appeared that being in that Pokeball had pacified him...as was usually the case whenever a Pokemon was caught in a Pokeball.

Curious, he noticed that Giovanni was gone.

"Where is Giovanni?" inquired Mewtwo.

"He got arrested..." explained Jake.

"I was afraid that might happen to him..." answered the cloned Pokemon. He sure seemed to be fighting a lot of police officers lately, especially Officer Jenny. How many sisters did Officer Jenny have, anyway? She sure seemed to have a large family.

"Well, it did. As for you...I think you're free to pick your own path...but I have a suggestion." stated Lucy.

"And what suggestion is that?" asked Mewtwo.

"Maybe you could take all the Pokemon you cloned and go somewhere where you can relax and focus your powers..." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"That's...not a bad idea, actually. I've created a lot of cloned Pokemon for Giovanni in the past...and I've actually grown rather fond of them..." stated the psychic Pokemon.

He just needed somewhere where nobody would disturb him in case Giovanni broke out. He got the feeling that he was a tool rather than a friend of his as with all the other Pokemon trainers. He might in fact have left Giovanni later if he hadn't been arrested and taken to prison.

Fortunately, he had an idea of where to go.

"If you need me I'll be in the Cerulean Cave..." answered Mewtwo.

"Isn't that full of very high-level Pokemon?" questioned Ned. It didn't sound like a place where he would want to go.

"Yes, it is. But I'll be fine. I was engineered to be the ultimate Pokemon, after all." stated the psychic Pokemon. Besides, he wouldn't be going in there alone. He had cloned Pokemon to back him up.

"Good point..." nodded Chris.

Mewtwo teleported away, leaving Chris, Ned, Jake, and Lucy to leave the gym shortly afterwards.

"Can you believe it? We're going to the Indigo Plateau!" exclaimed Lucy.

"I heard that there's a cavern that the Pokemon trainers use in order to train their Pokemon..." noted Ned.

"It's called Victory Road, I believe. It might be a good idea to train there while we wait for the tournament to start..." answered Jake.

"The Pokemon there are strong...but I like a challenge!" exclaimed Chris.

"Of course you do." nodded Ned.

Immediately, they headed to where the Indigo Plateau was to take place.

Sure enough, there was a guard in front of the door. He was dressed like a miner for some strange reason.

"Do you have the Boulder Badge?" asked the guard.

The four of them nodded.

"Go on ahead then." stated the man.

The four of them went on ahead.

The second guard was dressed in a swimmer's outfit.

"He doesn't appear to be wearing a shirt..." stated Lucy.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Chris.

Lucy looked at Chris.

"Nothing, nothing." stated the girl.

"Do you have the Cascade Badge?" inquired the guard.

The four of them nodded.

"Go on ahead..." stated the guard.

The next guard was dressed in a military uniform similar to the one Lt. Surge wore.

"Attention! Do you have the Thunder Badge?" questioned the military guard.

The four of them saluted the guard with respect.

"Very good. Go on ahead." stated the man. The four Pokemon trainers trying to get through were clearly not rookies.

The next guard was female and was dressed in a kimono.

"Do you have the Rainbow Badge?" asked the female guard.

"Yes, we do." nodded Lucy.

"Good. Let me snooze for a minute..." stated the guard.

Immediately, the guard fell asleep.

The next guard was dressed in a ninja outfit.

"Do you have the Soul Badge? I know that you have a soul at least..." noted the ninja guard.

"Yes, we do." nodded Chris.

"Alright then." stated the ninja.

Suddenly, he disappeared, leaving a log in his place.

"I'm not sure where that log came from, but at least we can continue..." stated Ned.

The next guard was holding a spoon.

Oddly enough, he didn't ask them whether they had the badge or not. Somehow, he already knew.

"You have the Marsh Badge. Please go on ahead." stated the guard.

Lucy shrugged.

The next guard was rather elderly and was wielding a cane.

"Do you have the Volcano Badge?" asked the guard.

"Yes, we do." nodded Jake.

"Good...while you're passing by would you like some trivia questions?" questioned the guard.

"Trivia questions? Sure." answered Lucy.

"How many gym badges do you need to get to the Indigo Plateau?" asked the guard.

"Eight." stated Ned.

"Very good. How many Pokemon are there in Kanto?" questioned the man.

"151." answered Jake.

"Alright then...what Pokemon did Blaine specialize in?" asked the guard.

"Fire." stated Chris.

"Very good. I think you can go in now." answered the man.

As it turned out, there was only one guard left...he was dressed like a Team Rocket Grunt, curiously enough.

"Do you have the Earth Badge? I promise I won't steal it...heh heh." said the Team Rocket Grunt guard.

Lucy wondered if Officer Jenny's search for Team Rocket Grunts wasn't as thorough as it should have been.

Nonetheless, she decided to say yes to his question.

"Good. You can go to the tournament now." said the guard.

Immediately, the four of them headed towards the Indigo Plateau.

It was time to register.

_Meanwhile..._

Ash Ketchum smiled. He had heard the news that Giovanni had been arrested. Now the world would be a better place. Maybe now Jessie and James wouldn't go after his Pikachu too much.

Still, he doubted that he would ever be entirely rid of them. They would probably be duking it out for the rest of their lives. Still, he got the feeling that Team Rocket wouldn't be nearly as threatening without their leader.

Besides, most of the Team Rocket Grunts had been arrested as well. He had seen it on the news.

He was glad that Jake and his friends had managed to pull off such a thing.

Well, it was time for him to enter the Indigo Plateau. Maybe he would be able to win...of course, that was if he was lucky.

Still, it was worth a shot. He WOULD get to be on a TV...though of course everyone would witness it if he lost. Maybe he couldn't have everything.

_"And that's it for Team Rocket. Giovanni's arrested. Our four heroes are going to be remembered for defeating him once and for all. As for Mewtwo, well, you might be seeing him again if I write a sequel. You never know._

_Anyways, I think it's about time for the Indigo Plateau to begin, don't you think? And yes, that's going to be the final arc...it seems standard for the anime to end like that, so I figured why not._


	58. Chapter 58: Victory Road

_In this chapter, Jake, Lucy, Chris, and Ned are going to visit Victory Road...it's a training ground for those that have entered the tournament. Pretty nifty, huh? Of course, they probably won't be able to use it too much once they're actually in the tournament...how far do you think that they're going to get?_

_And yes, they will be fighting several wild Pokemon in this chapter. After all, it's a rather decent way to get experience._

**Chapter 58: Victory Road**

"I'm glad that you managed to make it this far. You certainly have come a long way, haven't you?" stated the man in charge of the applications. They should be proud of themselves for their accomplishment.

"We certainly have." nodded Lucy. They certainly have become rather impressive Pokemon trainers. Their parents were going to be rather proud of them, that's for sure. Of course, Chris's mother was likely going to give her a massive hug and embarrass her in front of her friends. That was rather unfortunate...but at least she'll have a good reason for it.

"Well, congratulations! You're part of the Indigo Plateau! Of course, so are a ton of other Pokemon trainers...but congratulations anyways!" bellowed the man. It always felt good to say that.

"I'm glad that we decided to team up..." noted Jake. Without her, he wouldn't be nearly as idealistic as he was now. She really had rubbed off of him. Likewise, he had taught her that Team Rocket Grunts could have a softer side...such as Jessie and James. He heard that depressingly, they weren't always evil.

Lucy wondered how many Pokemon trainers had managed to get eight gym badges before them. They weren't exactly doing a Pokemon League speed run. They liked to take things slow and catch Pokemon gradually.

"I'm glad that we managed to make it." agreed Jake. It looked like their hard work was paying off. Of course, he would be happy if he defeated a single Gym Leader as it was an achievement in itself, though not as happy if he defeated eight.

"Now we get the opportunity to make it to the top!" exclaimed Chris. That was certainly something for them to look forward to. She was going to play to win, that was for certain. Of course, she might end up facing her friends...but it was all in the name of competitive sport.

"That's not going to be easy though..." answered Ned. They were going to need to defeat several Pokemon trainers, each of which have eight badges like they did.

Hopefully Chris wouldn't be a sore loser if she lost...she has a 1/256 chance of winning, even if she was one of the strongest Pokemon trainers that he knew.

"Well, the tournament isn't actually going to start until a week...for the first match we'll be drawing straws to see who fights who, in case you were wondering. Until then, why don't you train in Victory Road?" answered the man.

Ned was a bit worried that he might end up fighting Chris early on in the tournament. He didn't want to kick her out of all people.

On the other hand, maybe she would understand...or she would simply beat him in a Pokemon battle and kick HIM out of the tournament.

Well, the tournament was all in fair sport...and technically, the prize in question was simply an empty cup. He would simply do his best and well, hope for the best.

Immediately, they decided to head to Victory Road. From what they heard of it, it was specifically designed to train Pokemon trainers who had registered in the Indigo Plateau when it wasn't open yet.

Sure enough, there were other Pokemon trainers heading to Victory Road as well. Apparently, they were looking forward to the day of the tournament. They had better not oversleep.

Quickly, they noticed that there were guards in front of the entrance.

As it turned out, the guards were there due to the fact that Victory Road was full of high-level Pokemon. There were several warning signs telling them that it would best for them to stay out until they had eight badges. It definitely wasn't for rookies.

They were checking to see if the trainers in question had eight gym badges before going inside...it was rather similar to the eight guards that were in place to make sure that the Pokemon trainers had eight badges to make sure that they were ready for the tournament, now that they thought of it.

How did the Pokemon in there get so high-level anyway? Now that Ned thought of it, he had heard that there were other Victory Roads in other regions. Apparently, they were full of high-level Pokemon as well. It was rather strange.

Well, it was time to enter it. Fortunately, there were guards to bail them out in the event that their Pokemon ended up fainting. They wouldn't want any accidents before the day of the tournament. What would their families think?

Sure enough, the guards stopped them when they tried to enter.

"Do you have all eight gym badges?" asked the guards. Of course, if they didn't, it would raise the question as to why they were at the Indigo Plateau in the first place.

Curious, they wondered what kind of high-level Pokemon were inside the cavern. Since it was a cavern there would probably be rock or ground type Pokemon...though there would likely be others as well.

They were about to find out.

At that very moment, an Onix showed up, roaring rather loudly. Ned jumped in surprise. Why were Onixes so large, anyway? They seemed like the biggest Pokemon in all of existence...though that was probably an exaggeration. He wondered if Chris had a hard time keeping hers in a Pokeball.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock snake, burrowing out from the earth.

From the looks of it, they were stronger than the ones that Chris and Ned had encountered in the Rock Tunnel.

Fortunately, they were still technically rock and ground Pokemon, so water and grass Pokemon would work very well for this particular task.

Alternatively, Chris could try sending out her own Onix to fight rock with rock. Maybe she could see which one was stronger.

Eventually, she made her decision.

"Go, Onix!" exclaimed Chris.

Ned raised an eyebrow.

"How are you going to tell them apart?" asked Ned. They did look awfully similar now that he thought of it.

"My Onix has a bigger horn..." answered Chris.

Sure enough, it appeared that one of the Onixes did have a bigger horn than the other. Perhaps Chris could pay attention to detail like that.

"Oh..." stated the blonde. As it turned out, she was rather good at telling her Pokemon apart from other members of their species. It sounded like it would come in handy if she ever encountered a wild Ditto.

Fortunately for Chris, her Onix was faster, so it got the first strike.

Chris's Onix used Earthquake, and the wild Onix fainted. Unsurprisingly, it had rather swirly eyes. Why did Pokemon always do that when they fainted? She didn't know.

She then smiled. It looked like her Onix was very strong. She would not mind using him in the tournament at all...though she supposed she would probably have to account for the environment that was chosen.

"I guess training my Onix has really paid off." noted Chris. Maybe she was ready for the Pokemon League...however long she managed to last.

Shortly afterward, a Sandslash showed up. Apparently it had the Pokemon battle Chris had with the wild Onix earlier.

Jake wondered if he should try sending out a water Pokemon.

He decided that would be a good idea. Last time he checked, Sandslashes weren't fond of water. That was most likely why they lived in a desert...though admittedly they could live elsewhere, such as in caverns like this one.

"Go, Blastoise!" bellowed Jake.

"Blastoise!" shouted the water Pokemon. Jake seemed to use her a lot now that she thought of it. Maybe he liked water types?

"Sandslash..." murmured the ground Pokemon. Unsurprisingly, he did not like it whenever he ended up with a type disadvantage. He wasn't expecting water Pokemon to be in this cavern, either...though sometimes he did hear dripping.

Well, he might as well start fighting.

Immediately, he rolled up into a ball. It would probably be best for Blastoise not to get hit by it. Those spikes had a tendency to hurt. There was a reason why Sandslash was the evolved version of Sandshrew.

Of course, she could simply counter by going inside her shell. It was rather resilient and would probably protect from Sandslash's spikes.

Sure enough, the Sandslash began to roll towards Blastoise. As one might expect for a Sandslash as high-leveled as it was, it was very agile.

"Try withdrawing into your shell!" exclaimed Jake. Hopefully it wouldn't fail him now.

Blastoise did so, and the wild Sandslash bounced off it harmlessly.

"Sandslash..." murmured the ground Pokemon. That didn't work out. Now that he thought of it, Blastoise's shell might be more durable than himself while he was rolled into a spiked ball. He was rather impressed.

But before he could admire Blastoise's battle prowess any more, he got squirted with Blastoise's water cannons.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed the tortoise Pokemon. Having two very powerful cannons was very useful indeed. Oddly enough, she didn't recall having anything of the sort back when she was a Wartortle. It was kind of strange...but they were very handy regardless.

He ended up fainting.

"Sandslash..." stated the ground Pokemon. If only he weren't weakened by water.

"It looks like you're in as good shape as ever." noted Jake.

Blastoise nodded. It was good that she was ready for the Indigo Plateau. Otherwise her Pokemon trainer might be in trouble. What if he ran into fire or rock types?

Likewise, Lucy decided to send out her Venusaur. She seemed like as good of a choice as any...though she wondered if she should try training her Clefairy. She was a pretty strong Pokemon indeed, and her Metronome was rather versatile...even if she did mess up using it sometimes. It could be a bit unreliable.

"Go, Venusaur!" exclaimed Lucy.

Unfortunately, it appeared that there wasn't much sunlight in the cave, so she wasn't as powerful as she could be.

"Hmm..." thought the female Pokemon trainer. Maybe if she was lucky she would find a place in the cavern that had sunlight coming down from above.

Fortunately, there was a spot nearby.

"Well, that's rather convenient..." noted Lucy.

Venusaur nodded. How else would they even be able to see in the cavern otherwise?

Of course, it might be a good idea to see if the other Pokemon were ready for the tournament as well. This was as good of a place to do it as any, though technically the wild Pokemon were easier to fight than a Pokemon trainer's. More often that not, Pokemon were more effective when there was a human commanding them. Otherwise they couldn't strategize as well.

"I was wondering why it wasn't dark in the cavern myself..." acknowledged Ned. It was rather strange.

Well, he wasn't going to question it too much. It made training their Pokemon a lot easier since they had a light source.

"I wonder who we're going to face in the Indigo Plateau?" questioned Lucy. They sure had encountered many different Pokemon trainers in the past...and if they decided to continue their Pokemon career after the tournament, they would likely encounter more Pokemon trainers in the future.

"It could be anyone, really. Of course, the further we get through the tournament, the stronger the Pokemon trainers will get..." acknowledged Jake. After all, the Pokemon trainers that made it the farthest were always the most experienced ones.

"That is worrisome..." answered the female Pokemon trainer. Still, she was aware that there were other Pokemon tournaments. Maybe she could try entering those to see if she did better in the event that she lost the tournament.

At that very moment, a Poliwhirl stepped out of a nearby lake. Apparently, he had decided to take a break from swimming...though admittedly he was a rather good swimmer.

Lucy found it rather interesting that a Polliwag grew arms once it evolved. Perhaps they wanted to live an easier lifestyle.

Immediately, the Poliwhirl noticed Venusaur, and got ready to fight her.

Sure enough, the Poliwhirl began to shoot bubbles at Venusaur.

Fortunately, since she was a grass Pokemon Bubblebeam didn't really hurt much.

But since this Poliwhirl was rather high-level, there were a lot of bubbles to deal with. Venusaur was going to have a hard time dodging them, especially if the assault continued.

Fortunately, since there were sunlight nearby, Lucy decided to have Venusaur use Solarbeam.

Sure enough, it began to charge energy for this task. Lucy found it to be rather unfortunate that it took a significant amount of time for Venusaur to prepare an attack of such caliber...but what could she do?

Now all Venusaur needed to do was withstand another of Poliwhirl's attacks.

Fortunately, it was. All Poliwhirl did was give Venusaur a simple punch...which didn't hurt that much.

Venusaur hit Poliwhirl with a devastating Solarbeam, and Poliwhirl fainted.

"Poliwhirl..." murmured the wild Pokemon.

"Do you think we should try catching some of these?" asked Chris.

"We could do that...but we need to save money for Pokemon supplies..." answered Lucy. It would help them get through the tournament.

"Aren't you filthy rich?" questioned Jake.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. Did Lucy forget that?

"Technically yes, but I don't want to take that for granted." stated the girl.

Clefairy did admit that Lucy had a good point. There wasn't anything stopping her father or mother from making bad business decisions which would hurt her family's finances. Of course, it wouldn't be as likely to happen if they did as Lucy said.

"Right, of course. I guess we should try to simply train the Pokemon that we already have for the tournament, anyway..." noted Jake. They would have more experience using them, after all.

Ned wondered if there were any Pokemon that he could fight.

Sure enough, a wild Gyarados showed up. All of a sudden, it became rather apparent that the guards had a reason for keeping rookie Pokemon trainers from Viridian City out.

Fortunately, such a powerful Pokemon was not without weaknesses, as he could remember from his previous experience with using a Gyarados himself.

Immediately, he sent out his Raichu.

Apparently, the Gyarados knew from experience in the wild that he was weak to electric attacks, because he stopped being so fierce once he realized that Ned had sent out an electric Pokemon.

"Gyarados..." murmured the water Pokemon. Why couldn't it be a fire type instead? He excelled at fighting those.

"Raichu, use Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Fortunately for the wild Gyarados, the Thunderbolt missed...barely.

Gyarados sighed in relief.

"Darn it! We missed!" exclaimed Ned. He thought for a second that they were going to hit, too.

"Raichu..." murmured the electric Pokemon. Perhaps he should work on his aim a bit more. What if he ended up hitting his Pokemon trainer? That would be embarrassing for both of them.

In retaliation, Gyarados launched a Hydro Pump at Raichu.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Ned. This Gyarados was fierce indeed.

"Raichu!" bellowed Ned's Raichu. He wasn't really expecting to be taking a bath. Now he was soaking wet and dripping water all over the cavern floor.

"I guess we're going to have to counter-attack..." acknowledged the blonde.

Raichu nodded. They would be sitting Psyducks if they let the Gyarados continue attacking.

"Try using Thunder Wave!" ordered Ned. Raichu would have an easier time attacking if his opponent was paralyzed, that was for certain.

Raichu agreed, and he paralyzed Gyarados with Thunder Wave.

"Gyarados..." stated the water Pokemon. All of a sudden, he wasn't feeling nearly so aggressive. It was a rather unusual experience for him.

He tried using Hydro Pump again, but this time it was much weaker, and Raichu was able to avoid it.

"Try using Thunderbolt now." suggested Ned.

Raichu did so, and the wild Gyarados fainted, collapsing on the ground.

"Alright!" cheered the blonde.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. It looked like their little training session was going rather well.

Immediately, Ned withdrew his Raichu so that he could try sending out another Pokemon. Perhaps there was another Pokemon that he could try training.

Fortunately, he had an idea. Why not send out his Nidoqueen?

Oddly enough despite her name Nidoqueen didn't really seem to be a monarch of some sort. Maybe it was simply an honorary title. She certainly was stronger than its pre-evolutions though.

The same could also be said about Nidoking now that he thought of it. Speaking of which, was Chris going to send out hers?

Currently, she was recalling her Onix.

As it turned out, she was planning to send out her Nidoking.

"Go, Nidoking!" exclaimed Chris.

"Nidoking!" bellowed the ground and poison Pokemon. He looked as fierce as ever.

Curious, Ned decided to see if there were other Pokemon in the area that he and Chris could fight. They still had some time before the tournament, after all.

Oddly enough, now that he thought of it, he heard a rumor that Moltres used to be here. Apparently, she had decided to nest elsewhere. Perhaps she thought that Mt. Ember was more to her liking.

He supposed that made sense. Mt. Ember was a lot warmer than Victory Road was now that he thought of it...not only that, but she had a rather nice view and could fly around easier.

What other legendary Pokemon could be there be in the Victory Roads scattered across the Pokemon World?

Suddenly, they heard someone else fighting.

Ned and Chris decided to investigate.

As it turned out, it was none other than Jerry.

"How'd you make it into the Indigo Plateau?" asked Chris.

"Heh heh heh..." snickered Jerry.

"I never thought he would make it this far, either." noted Ned. His Pokemon likely didn't have respect for him.

Considering he had a habit to make them fight in Pokemon battles where they had type disadvantages despite their warnings, this was rather justified. It wasn't a big surprise that Charmander and Paras had both decided to leave him in favor of Chris.

Of course, Chris did want them to be rather strong...but she knew that she should make them fight Pokemon they would have an advantage against. And she did care for her Pokemon in the long run...she had sent them to Nurse Joy several times.

"I'm going to cream you losers in the Pokemon tournament! Just you wait!" bellowed Jerry.

"You're going to have a hard time. We're the ones who managed to defeat Team Rocket, not you!" exclaimed Chris.

"What? You did? Don't be silly!" shouted the youngster.

"If we were kidding, why would we have the Earth Badge?" questioned Ned.

Immediately, Ned showed him his Earth Badge.

Chris did the same as well, grinning as she did so.

"What? You defeated Giovanni! What in the name of the Legendary Birds is going on here?" asked Jerry.

"It's true, we did!" exclaimed Lucy.

As it turned out, Lucy and Jake had shown up as well.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. Personally she thought it was a bigger accomplishment than simply defeating eight different Gym Leaders.

"Well, I suppose the world of Pokemon IS better without those losers..." answered Jerry.

"It certainly is...even if I did technically use to be part of Team Rocket myself." stated Jake. He ultimately decided that it wasn't worth it. Sure, the world of Pokemon did have a small amount of people that wanted to take their Pokemon...but as it turned out, he didn't want to be one of them. He had decided to let his conscience be his guide.

"I'm still going to beat you though!" bellowed the youngster.

Somehow, Chris wasn't so sure if that was actually going to happen. Jerry made HER look humble by comparison. Besides, he had lost to her several times before. He didn't really learn from his mistakes.

"Well, I don't think I need to train here. My Pokemon are perfect!" exclaimed Jerry.

"If your Pokemon are perfect, then how do you explain THAT?" asked Lucy, pointing to the right.

Curious, Jake decided to turn around. He then noticed something that was shocking...well, not too shocking.

As it turned out, there were Jerry's Pokemon, and they had all fainted. It looked like the Pokemon inside the cavern had been too much for them.

Sure enough, Jerry was recalling them.

Chris found this to be rather amusing.

Jerry ran out of Victory Road crying.

Suddenly, they remembered that they had forgotten to train their Nidoking and Nidoqueen.

"Shouldn't we be training them?" asked Ned.

"Actually, they're wrestling with each other. Apparently they like friendly sport..." noted Chris. Of course, so did she. Perhaps Nidoking had inherited that from her.

Sure enough, Nidoqueen and Nidoking were doing just that.

"So...do you want to call it a day?" asked Lucy.

"Alright...we've been training our Pokemon for a while." nodded Jake.

Immediately, the four of them decided to leave Victory Road and head to the Pokemon Center.

Being part of the tournament was something that they were all looking forward to.

_In the next chapter, the tournament is officially going to start. Of course, some Pokemon trainers are going to win, and some are going to lose. It'd be a shame to be eliminated in the first round, huh?_

_And yes, there will be familiar faces in the tournament. You might be also to guess who they are, but maybe not._


	59. Chapter 59: Round One

_In this chapter, the four protagonists of this fanfic are going to participate in the tournament...Ned's going to go first, followed by Lucy, then Jake, and finally Chris. Intrigued?_

_How far in the tournament will they possibly get? It's Round One so it's hard to say for certain._

**Chapter 59: Round One**

After spending their time training in Victory Road, the first day of the tournament was upon them. Chris, Ned, Lucy, and Jake were all going to get to participate in their first Pokemon battle in the tournament...which hopefully wouldn't also be their last.

They had each put a ticket in a box to see who would get to fight who. He had heard that they were going to be using different selection methods for the upcoming rounds.

Quickly, they noticed that there were many people in the audience, some of which weren't even from Kanto. Apparently there were a lot of people that watched the Indigo Plateau tournament...speaking of which Lucy wondered if her parents were watching her on TV.

Of course, some regions were close to Kanto, such as Johto for instance. It wasn't unreasonable that they would be receiving guests.

Immediately, the announcer pulled out two pieces of paper. They all wondered who the two trainers could possibly be. It could be anyone on account on it being a random selection.

"Ned Kagome...you're up against...Jerry Yamaguchi!" exclaimed the announcer.

Ned's eyes widened in surprise. It looked like he would be going first. He wondered which one of his friends would show up on the battiefleld next. It was only a matter of time before their tickets were pulled out.

He would like to witness them in action too. It was nice for him to see how their Pokemon were doing.

"You mean...that Jerry?" questioned Chris. They had encountered him last week in Victory Road. Now that she thought of it, he did mention that he was going to be in the tournament too.

"I'm going to cream you!" bellowed Jerry from the crowd. Personally he thought that the irony really worked in his favor.

"That's the one, alright." nodded the teenage girl. She would recognize Jerry's voice anywhere. It was always full of contempt and arrogance. Maybe if he respected his fellow Pokemon trainers a bit more he would win more Pokemon battles.

Already, they were setting up an arena for them. For this battle they would be fighting in a water arena. Using fire types was not going to be a good idea.

However, Jerry decided to pick a Pokemon that would have a disadvantage in that sort of environment. As usual, he had a tendency to make bad matchups...one of his biggest weaknesses. Perhaps he should try reviewing his type advantages and disadvantages.

"Go, Sandslash!" shouted Jerry.

Ned wondered why exactly Jerry was sending out that particular Pokemon. He knew for one that he was not going to send out his Golem. She would sink like a stone in water, that was for certain.

Apparently his Sandslash was wondering that too, because he seemed rather nervous. One wrong move and he would end up falling into the water.

To make matters worse for Jerry, Ned had not only chosen a Pokemon that Sandslash was weak to...but would do well in an arena such as this.

"Go, Gyarados!" exclaimed Ned.

"Gyarados!" bellowed Gyarados. He was feeling rather pumped after making it to the Indigo Plateau. Of course, he was going to have to be careful not to destroy the arena so that his trainer didn't get disqualified...but he thought that he could restrain himself. His Pokemon trainer had taught him that.

Jerry's Sandslash began to feel quite nervous. Something told him that he was not going to win this fight. Hopefully his trainer would switch him out for a different Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Jerry did not catch on. Once again, he had decided to brute force his way into defeating his opponent.

"Use Rollout!" exclaimed Jerry.

Sandslash rolled into a ball to do so...

...and ended up falling into the water when he rolled towards Gyarados.

"Sandslash?" questioned the shrew Pokemon. He had heard a splashing sound, and wondered what was going on.

He then realized what had happened.

"Sandslash!" exclaimed the sand Pokemon, thrashing about in the water.

"You might have wanted to come up with a different strategy than that..." suggested Ned.

"Shut your yap!" exclaimed Jerry. He wasn't going to listen to his enemy.

Chris rolled her eyes in the audience. How did he even get eight gym badges in the first place? It seemed unlikely that he would do well in a gym battle unless he came up with some sort of strategy. Those Gym Leaders had been facing other Pokemon trainers for quite some time. This wasn't the first time that there had been an Indigo Plateau conference.

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!" exclaimed Ned.

Gyarados hit Sandslash with Hydro Pump, causing Sandslash to faint easily.

"Sandslash..." murmured the sand Pokemon. He was starting to see why his Charmander and Paras had left him.

"Nooooo!" bellowed Jerry. Once again his Pokemon had fainted.

"Once again he's being a sore loser." remarked Chris. To think that he still had two Pokemon left. He might still be able to win the fight...though she wouldn't bet any money on him. Personally she thought that Ned had this in the bag, even if his Pokemon weren't as strong as hers were.

"He really needs to learn that he can't always win...otherwise the sport of Pokemon battling would get boring..." acknowledged Lucy.

"You sure got that right..." nodded Jake. Anyways, he was going to be rooting for Ned in the battle. Jerry simply didn't know to battle with Pokemon properly, even if he did manage to catch several Pokemon before coming to the Pokemon League.

"I'm still going to beat you!" bellowed Jerry, pulling out another Pokeball. He wasn't going to lose this time.

This time, he sent out his Hypno.

"Hypno..." murmured the hypnotic Pokemon. Already Ned was starting to feel a bit sleepy. Jerry's Hypno had similarities to Chris's Jigglypuff now that he thought of it, even if Chris's Jigglypuff was technically the stronger Pokemon.

"Hmm...that pendulum is awfully intriguing...I should probably send out a Pokemon that gets distracted easily so they won't pay attention to it..." acknowledged Ned.

Suddenly, his Seel popped out of his Pokeball.

"Gyarados?" questioned the atrocious Pokemon. What was another one of Ned's Pokemon doing here? He didn't recall being part of a tag-team.

"Seel!" exclaimed the seal Pokemon. He was looking forward to going for a swim. Apparently he liked the idea of there being a water arena inside the Pokemon tournament.

"Seel? I already have a Pokemon out on the battlef-wait a minute..." thought Ned.

Immediately, he withdrew Gyarados and let Seel take over. Maybe he would be able to beat Hypno...though he would admit that he hadn't really used him for battle before.

As such, Lucy was rather worried about Ned's Pokemon choice.

"Careful, Ned! Seel might not be experienced enough to take on Hypno!" warned Lucy. Jerry did in fact have Hypno longer than Ned had Seel...though that was probably the only advantage that Hypno had over Seel.

"I know...but I would like to try..." answered Ned.

"Your Seel's blubber isn't going to save you from my Hypno! Hypnotize!" exclaimed Jerry.

Hypno attempted to do so, swinging its pendulum back and forth.

Unfortunately for Jerry, Seel in fact did end up getting distracted as Ned had thought, looking in the other direction from his opponent. He was waving to the audience.

Apparently, they liked Seel, because they were cheering him on. In contrast, nobody seemed to be cheering for Jerry. Chris found it to be rather amusing.

In fact, he didn't feel sleepy at all.

"Seel!" exclaimed Seel, leaping into the air. He was as energetic as ever.

Jerry clenched his fist. Why wasn't this working?

Now it was Seel's turn to attack.

Immediately, he dove underwater.

Hypno wondered where Seel could have possibly gone. Unfortunately, he doubted that he was as good of a swimmer as Seel was, on account on Seel being part water type.

Unsurprisingly, Seel was a good swimmer and he could swim through the water rather quickly. He had lived in Seafoam Islands before his fateful encounter with Ned after all.

Of course, the water was a bit cold...but Seel didn't mind that. In fact, he thrived in the cold. If he was in a warm environment, he would feel rather sweaty.

But as it was, he was feeling fine.

Suddenly, he leapt out of the water and hit Hypno with an Ice Beam. His eyes widened as he felt the burst of cold ice.

"Hypno!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon. He had not been expecting that. It had been so sudden.

Already he was feeling...cold.

However, Jerry decided to ignore what was happening to Hypno. As usual, he didn't care too much about his Pokemon.

"C'mon! A little frost isn't going to hurt anyone!" exclaimed Jerry.

Hypno started to shiver. Somehow, he didn't think that was true. Had Jerry ever met Lorelei before?

Jerry groaned. Once again, Ned had the advantage.

This time, Jerry had Hypno use Psychic.

Fortunately, it appeared that as long as Seel hid underwater, Hypno couldn't find him...meaning that he couldn't use Hypnosis to put him to sleep.

"Hypno?" inquired the psychic Pokemon. He wondered where his opponent could possibly be. Did he leave to go eat some ice cubes?

Suddenly, Seel reemerged from the water, causing Hypno to fall over in shock.

This gave Seel the opportunity to bite Hypno with his fangs.

Hypno fainted.

Ned cheered. He was doing pretty well this round. Just one more Pokemon and he would be the winner.

"Ugh! Why are my Pokemon so useless?" questioned Jerry. Now he only had one Pokemon left...and Ned still had all three of his Pokemon left. He could not believe that he was losing so badly.

"Maybe you need to strategize a bit more..." suggested Ned.

"Whatever! My next Pokemon is going to end this right here!" bellowed the youngster.

"Well, there are three Pokemon they need to beat..." pointed out the blonde. He had better be sending out a rather strong Pokemon if he wanted to win this.

"So what? He's got this in the bag!" exclaimed Jerry.

Immediately, he sent out his Dodrio.

"Dodrio!" bellowed the bird Pokemon.

"You do realize that Dodrio can't run on water or fly, right?" asked Ned. As fast as Dodrio was, it was incapable of doing either of those things.

"Ugh!" bellowed Jerry. Why was Ned always criticizing his Pokemon strategies? Personally he didn't feel like he needed them.

Of course, now that he thought of it...Dodrio didn't seem to want to go for a swim at the moment. On the other hand, his three heads were willing to drink from the water. They were doing so now.

Little did he know that at that very moment, Seel was circling the water.

"Dodrio?" questioned the bird Pokemon. For some strange reason he got the feeling that there was another Pokemon there...but when he looked around he didn't see them anywhere. Where were they?

He was about to find out.

Immediately, Seel leapt out of the water and bit one of the Dodrio heads...the one on the left, to be precise.

"Dodrio!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

However, Dodrio did not react too well to having one of his heads attacked...even if they did fight each other over food every now and then. Sometimes there simply wasn't much to go around.

Immediately, it began to peck Seel many different times.

"Seel!" bellowed Ned's Seel. Dodrio really had sharp beaks.

Fortunately, his thick blubber helped protect him from Dodrio's attacks. It looked like he wasn't going to be fainting just yet.

Ned sighed in relief.

In retaliation, Ned had Seel use Ice Beam to freeze the Dodrio.

However, he only froze one of the heads. The right one.

"You better do something about that ice..." remarked Jerry. For once he was using his brain...even if his order was rather simple.

The other two nodded, and started pecking the ice in order to shatter it.

They succeeded...though of course the right head was feeling rather cold.

"Dodrio..." murmured the right head.

Ned had to admit that Seel was doing surprisingly well. A few more battles and he could really be a serious competitor.

Now that he thought of it, he seemed to recall Misty's sisters having a Seel themselves. Perhaps they could introduce themselves to each other. Maybe they would want to be playmates.

Of course, he already had the Cerulean Badge.

Dodrio attempted to stomp on Seel, but he simply dived into the water.

He had no idea where Seel was. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't see underwater nearly as well as Seel could.

Shortly afterwards, Seel bit Dodrio on the left leg.

"Dodrio!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

Dodrio fell into the water...and fainted.

"Seel!" cheered the seal Pokemon.

"We did it!" cheered Ned.

Jerry screamed. He was one of the first to be kicked out of the tournament...of course, half of the Pokemon trainers were going to be eliminated during the first round of the tournament, so he wasn't going to be alone.

On the lighter side, he got to enter his Pokemon into the Hall Of Fame. Personally Chris thought that he should be in the Hall Of Infamy.

First on the list was his Sandslash.

Next was his Slowbro.

Then came along his Hypno.

This was followed by his Ditto.

Up next was his Dodrio.

And then there was his Aerodactyl.

Oddly enough he had only managed to catch five different Pokemon, it seemed. Did he not consider buying Pokeballs at the PokeMart? They were available for cheap...though the more powerful Pokeballs were of course more expensive.

If only they sold Master Balls. That would make Pokemon catching really easy.

Outside the Hall of Fame, Chris was congratulating Ned for his victory in the tournament. Of course, he needed to win more battles if he wanted to win the Pokemon tournament.

"Congratulations, Ned. I knew that you could do it." stated Chris.

Ned rubbed his hand behind his head. He should find a way to award Seel for his efforts. Of course, he was probably going to use him during the second round of the tournament.

Lucy wondered who was going to be next.

Since it would probably be some time before another one of them was chosen, they decided to watch TV to see who would be chosen next.

Sure enough, there were other Pokemon trainers being chosen to battle too.

After spending about thirty minutes watching the trainers fight each other, Lucy realized that she had been chosen next. She felt rather excited.

As it turned out, she was up against Roland...Roland the Clown. She had seen him on TV before. It felt rather interesting meeting a celebrity.

Lucy wondered if he was going to juggle his Pokeballs. She was up for a decent juggling act.

They were going to be fighting in a grassland arena.

It would not be a bad idea to choose a Pokemon that was suited for that sort of arena. After all, Ned had chosen water Pokemon to help him get through the water arena. It would probably be best to try sending in a grass type instead of a water or a rock type.

She had to admit, the flower garden that they used was nice, though she did admit that she was likely going to fight in a different arena later if she beat her opponent.

Sure enough, the clown arrived on stage. He was holding some balloons.

He handed one to Lucy.

"Thanks!" exclaimed the young girl. Oddly enough it resembled a Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" cheered Lucy's Clefairy. She found a balloon shaped like herself to be rather amusing.

However, she wondered if her Pokemon trainer would have a hard time telling them apart.

"Why can't Jerry be this nice?" questioned Ned in the audience. He wondered what it would have been like if he received him as an opponent instead of Jerry.

Of course, that would probably mean that Lucy would get stuck with him instead...he would probably make her cry.

Chris wondered how a circus clown had managed to get eight gym badges. Perhaps his Pokemon had been entertaining a live audience for quite some time.

Lucy decided for her first Pokemon she was going to send out her Butterfree.

"Butterfree!" exclaimed the butterfly Pokemon as she was released from her Pokeball.

Sure enough, she was sniffing the flowers.

Likewise, Roland decided to send out his first Pokemon.

it was an Exeggutor.

"Exeggutor!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

"I used to use Exeggcute for juggling...but eventually someone in the crowd tossed a Leaf Stone. Apparently they wondered what my circus act would be like if it evolved..." answered Roland.

Fortunately, Exeggutor was still good at doing circus tricks even though Roland could no longer juggle him. He did have psychic powers after all...and he smelled rather good besides.

Lucy had to question why Roland was sending out an Exeggutor against a bug type. It didn't really make sense.

Well, it worked in her favor. She got the feeling that Butterfree was going to make short work against her opponent's first Pokemon.

Immediately, Lucy instructed Butterfree to use Silver Wind.

Shortly afterward, a visible wind began to blow across the battlefield, rustling the grass as it did so. Unsurprisingly, it was silver.

Exeggutor did not like that at all.

"Exeggutor!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Immediately, the wind knocked him down.

Unfortunately for Exeggutor, due to the fact that he did not have arms, he wasn't able to get back up.

"Hit him again, Butterfree!" exclaimed Lucy.

Butterfree hit Exeggutor with Silver Wind again, and Exeggutor fainted.

"Exeggutor..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

"Alright, Butterfree!" cheered Lucy. It appeared that she certainly wasn't a Caterpie anymore. She had gotten quite strong.

"Not bad...you would probably do well as a circus performer..." remarked the clown.

"I probably would..." nodded the girl. She decided that she would continue participating in the tournament for the time being though. Why would she want to back down now?

For his next Pokemon, he decided to send out a Pokemon that would not lose to Butterfree so easily.

This time, he sent out a Rapidash.

"Rapidash!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"Uh-oh!" bellowed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" shouted the fairy Pokemon. Roland very well might have found a way to turn the tables against Lucy.

Perhaps it would be a good idea for her to try switching out her Pokemon as well. That way Butterfree wouldn't end up fainting.

While she was at it, it would probably be a good idea to send out a Pokemon that could keep up with Rapidash's high speed. That way they wouldn't start having problems.

Suddenly, it occurred to her what Pokemon she should use.

"Butterfree, back into your Pokeball! Go, Dugtrio!" bellowed Lucy.

Butterfree sighed in relief as she was sent back into her Pokeball. She had been worried for a second.

Of course, Lucy would probably send her back out later...but hopefully Rapidash would have fainted by then.

"Dugtrio!" bellowed the mole Pokemon. He was rather glad that there was soil in the arena that he could dig through.

"Not another type disadvantage..." thought Roland. Despite being a clown, he did not find this to be funny.

He decided to have Rapidash use Fire Spin. Maybe he could trap Dugtrio in a whirl of fire.

The one thing he had forgotten is that Dugtrio could simply dig in the event that he did find himself being trapped.

He was able to avoid the flames completely.

Roland frowned. Lucy clearly had the edge over him.

At that very moment, Dugtrio resurfaced.

"Earthquake!" exclaimed Lucy.

Dugtrio used Earthquake, causing the ground to shake.

"Rapidash!" bellowed the fire horse Pokemon. This was not good for him.

He ended up taking a lot of damage.

"Rapidash..." murmured the fire horse Pokemon. He was feeling rather tired.

"C'mon! You can still do this!" exclaimed Roland.

Suddenly, he remembered that Diglett and Dugtrios weren't too fond of sunlight.

Immediately, he ordered Rapidash to use Sunny Day.

Shortly afterward, the sun appeared in the sky.

Unfortunately for him, Lucy's Dugtrio had gotten used to the sunlight due to his experience with fighting alongside Lucy.

As such, the sun wasn't harmful to him...though he still would prefer being in a dark environment.

Dugtrio used Fissure, and Rapidash fell straight in.

Obviously, Rapidash ended up fainting.

Realizing that he only had one Pokemon left, Roland decided to send out his strongest Pokemon.

That Pokemon was his Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the mime Pokemon.

Lucy was well-aware that Mr. Mimes had powerful barrier creating abilities. She was going to have to find a way past them somehow.

Sure enough, Mr. Mime was creating barriers to shield himself from attack.

However, she then remembered that Dugtrio could simply dig underneath the barriers.

"Oh, that's right..." remarked Lucy.

Immediately, she instructed Dugtrio to use Dig.

Sure enough, Dugtrio began to dig.

Mr. Mime wondered where Dugtrio was going off too. It seemed rather cowardly to desert the battlefield unless they were losing badly...and so far Dugtrio seemed to be doing fine.

Suddenly, Dugtrio resurfaced and clawed into Mr. Mime.

"Mr. Mime!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon.

Roland wondered how Dugtrio was managing to penetrate his Pokemon's defenses.

Apparently, Lucy was simply a very talented Pokemon trainer...and apparently more talented than he was.

Dugtrio used Earthquake, and Mr. Mime fainted.

In other words, Lucy had won.

"Congratulations! I'm rather impressed...I could never perform a circus act that good..." noted Roland.

"That was a good fight..." remarked Lucy. She seemed to be doing very well in the tournament so well.

She just wondered if her friends would do as well as she did.

Speaking of which, they wanted to congratulate her as well.

"Congratulations, Lucy!" exclaimed Jake.

"You showed that clown you weren't clowning around!" remarked Chris.

"I sure did...now I'm going to the second round..." said Lucy.

"So am I..." noted Ned.

Personally, she wondered what arena she would be in next. It could be a desert or a tundra...the arenas tended to be rather unpredictable.

She would have to adjust her Pokemon accordingly.

For now, she was going to watch TV. It was only a matter of time before Jake and Chris got to face off against an opponent.

Alternatively, she could try watching another show that she enjoyed. Right now Clefairy Tales was on TV. Of course, it wasn't a show that Chris would be interested in. Maybe Jake would be though. He needed some cheering up every now and then.

She noted that the main character resembled her Clefairy...though that wasn't a surprise. Of course, she could distinguish her Clefairy from other Clefairies just fine. She knew her Clefairy well after all.

Speaking of which, she was currently looking at the TV herself.

Lucy decided that she would wait for tomorrow to see who was going to be fighting next.

It was going to be an exciting match-up.

_You were probably expecting Jerry to lose, were you not? Of course, he was Ned's first opponent...and of course, the deeper the four Pokemon trainers progress in the tournament, the harder it's going to be._

_Likewise, you were probably expecting Lucy to win...which obviously she did. There's still the matter of Jake and Chris though...will they manage to win? Or will they be less fortunate than Ned or Lucy?_

_Don't be surprised if Pokemon end up evolving during the tournament. Things tend to get rather intense in there...which makes the Pokemon react accordingly._


	60. Chapter 60: The Tournament Continues

_In this chapter, Jake and Chris are going to participate in a tournament battle of their own...you'll get to see if they made it past round one. Of course, Lucy and Ned did make it past round one, so..._

_You're probably going to be surprised who Chris's first opponent is going to be. I decided to be creative._

**Chapter 60: The Tournament Continues**

Jake and Chris continued to watch the ballots...wondering who was going to fight who next. There certainly had been some interesting matchups...such as a youngster up against an elder or a swimmer up against a firebreather. Unsurprisingly, the elder and the swimmer ended up winning against their respective opponents.

Of course, they wondered who they were going to be up against themselves. Personally Chris wanted the person in charge of the ballets to hurry up and pull out her name already.

Suddenly, Jake's name was called.

"Huh?" asked Jake. Perhaps it was his turn to participate in the arena. Lucy would certainly be excited to see him compete. Hopefully he would do well.

As it turned out, it was him alright. They mentioned his last name...which of course was Kurosawa. Clearly he was going to be fighting in the tournament next...the only question was who his opponent was going to be. They hadn't mentioned their name yet...he was going to have to keep waiting in order to find out.

"Looks like you're up next, Jake!" exclaimed Lucy. She was looking forward to watching him battle in the arena. Hopefully he would be able to make it past the first round at least.o

"Yeah...looks like I am..." nodded Jake. He was worried that he wouldn't do well in the tournament...though considering that Lucy and Ned did well during the first round, maybe he would too.

As it turned out, he was up against a Pokemon trainer who called himself Dr. Mart. He was a rather smart scientist who had decided to take on a career of researching Pokemon. But unlike Professor Oak, he had decided not to let young Pokemon trainers do the work for him. He was a younger man, after all.

Was he referring to the PokeMart? He wasn't quite sure.

He wondered if he was going to be a challenge. His Pokemon would like that. Perhaps he was a strategic Pokemon trainer like Ned was.

He was going to be fighting in the desert arena. He had better be careful that his Pokemon don't get sand in their eyes. That wouldn't be too fun.

He would likely want a Pokemon that was rather hardy and wouldn't mind the sand or the heat.

Alternatively, he could simply try sending out a Pokemon that could wash the sand away.

Well, he knew at some level what Pokemon he should try sending out. He just needed to strategize accordingly.

Unsurprisingly, his friends were on the audience. This of course included his Pokemon partner Lucy. For safety purposes it appeared that they all liked traveling with a buddy.

At that very moment, his opponent stepped into the arena.

"I see that you're smart enough to know how to defeat each of the Gym Leaders in Kanto..." remarked Dr. Mart.

"Well, I did get some help with that...Lucy made sure that I didn't give up after I lost to Brock..." noted Jake.

Jake wondered who should send out their Pokemon first.

As it turned out, there was a randomizer for that.

Apparently, Dr. Mart was going to send out the first Pokemon.

"I better make sure that it's suited for the desert..." noted Dr. Mart.

Jake nodded. He wouldn't want a sudden sandstorm to wreak havoc on his Pokemon.

For his first Pokemon, Dr. Mart sent out an Onix.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon. That Pokemon was bigger than his house...not like he lived in a big house to begin with.

Jake noted that Dr. Mart had made a good choice for this type of arena. Of course, he wouldn't be a scientist if he did not have a noggin.

In retaliation, he decided to send out his Blastoise...though they were water types, some Squirtles did in fact live in the desert along with their evolutions...though they typically lived near an oasis.

That, and she could probably withdraw into her shell in the event that there was a sandstorm in the desert arena.

Onix attacked first, tossing rocks at Blastoise.

However, she countered by withdrawing into her shell...which was as durable as ever.

She retaliated by splashing Onix with water, making him soaking wet.

"Onix!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon. He did not come into a desert arena to be splashed with water.

Dr. Mart started to worry. He was clearly at a disadvantage.

He might need to send out another Pokemon that would not mind being in a desert. Preferably one that wouldn't have to worry about being buffeted by a sandstorm.

For now, he needed to get his Onix out of range of Blastoise's cannons. They were really powerful...if she kept squirting Onix it was likely that he was going to faint and he would be down one Pokemon.

"Use Dig!" ordered Dr. Mart.

Onix nodded, and dug underground so that he wouldn't get drenched by Blastoise's cannons again. He wasn't exactly fond of water.

Blastoise wondered where his Pokemon was heading. He could resurface anywhere in the arena. It made him rather hard to hit, she must admit.

"This presents a problem..." acknowledged Jake.

Onix resurfaced, and hit Blastoise with his head.

"Blastoise!" exclaimed Jake's Blastoise. That hurt. Good thing she didn't have a headache now.

Onix then went underneath the sand again, looking for another opportunity to strike.

"We're going to have to do something about all this..." remarked Jake.

Blastoise nodded. Onix was being stealthy. Who would have thought that a Pokemon that big would be so hard to find? She certainly didn't think so.

Still, she could hide in her shell rather effectively...and she wasn't a small Pokemon herself. That was back when she was a Squirtle.

Suddenly, it occurred to Jake that maybe he could change the arena to his liking.

"Maybe you should try getting rid of the sand around you so that Onix can't bury himself..." remarked Jake.

Blastoise nodded. That was a good idea.

Immediately, Blastoise squirted away all the sand in a nearby area, exposing Onix in the process.

"Onix?" questioned the rock snake Pokemon. He felt so safe just a minute ago.

Blastoise then fired off another round of water at Onix. It was times like this when she was glad that she was a water type.

Onix fainted, collapsing to the ground. Fortunately, he did not fall on his trainer. That would hurt...a lot.

And of course, he did not fall on his opponent either. She would likely have trouble lifting him off.

Dr. Mart frowned. It looked like he was going to be facing a powerful Pokemon trainer for this first round. One could only help that he could make it to the second round regardless.

He had already witnessed several Pokemon trainers come and go on TV. Some people were disappointed that they had lost the tournament, others were glad that they were able to compete further and challenge stronger Pokemon trainers.

However, he was not one to simply surrender to his opponent. He still had two Pokemon left and they were itching for some tournament action.

For his next Pokemon he decided to send out his Magneton.

"Magneton!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

"It's probably not going to mind the sand either..." stated Jake.

It would probably be best if he sent out a different Pokemon too.

Fortunately, he knew a good Pokemon to send out.

"Go, Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

"Marowak!" bellowed the bone Pokemon.

As usual, he was wielding a bone. However, after noticing that he was participating in the Indigo Plateau, he wondered if he should go get a bigger bone. He would be more prepared that way.

Well, it was too late to do anything about that until the second round.

Quickly, he noticed that he was in a desert arena. He felt right at home...though technically his home used to be the Pokemon Tower, which was in a town.

If only Jerry had sent his Sandslash out in this type of arena. Maybe his Pokemon wouldn't have fainted so quickly.

Dr. Mart found himself at a disadvantage...again. He noted that despite his opponent's young age he was not going down too easily.

Well, he didn't simply collect eight gym badges so that he could relax in his laboratory all day. He might as well continue fighting.

"Magneton, use Sonicboom!" ordered Dr. Mart.

Magneton shot a burst of sound at Marowak, nearly causing him to drop his bone simply due to how loud it was.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the Pokemon that wore the skull of his deceased mother. That caught him off-guard for a second.

But he wasn't going to let Magneton defeat him that easily.

In retaliation, he whacked Magneton with his club.

This worked surprisingly well. It was a good thing that he didn't take those bones from old and decaying skeletons. That would be embarrassing once they crumbled to dust.

"Magneton!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. Marowak really knew how to wield his club. Of course, his dead mother likely taught him how to do so as a Cubone. How he missed his mother.

Since Magneton was clearly having a hard time, Dr. Mart decided to have Magneton use a different technique.

He decided to have Magneton use Screech.

Marowak frantically covered his ears. If he had to listen for that for long, he was going to faint.

Unfortunately, he couldn't hear his trainer's commands as a result.

Jake decided to switch out his Pokemon since he clearly wasn't getting the message. Of course, maybe Magneton couldn't hear its Pokemon trainer's commands, either.

Maybe he needed to beat Dr. Mart at his own game.

Once again, he had a Pokemon for that.

"Go, Golbat!" exclaimed Jake.

"Golbat!" bellowed Jake's Golbat.

Fortunately, he did not have to walk along the hot desert sands as he could simply fly.

Once again, Magneton attempted to Screech.

However, Jake had Golbat counter with a screech of his own.

Golbat's screech turned out to be louder.

Magneton fainted.

Dr. Mart was rather impressed that Jake managed to counter his Pokemon's screech.

He was going to have to send out his last Pokemon...just like Jake did to defeat his second Pokemon.

Since he was facing a losing battle, he decided to send out his strongest Pokemon.

That Pokemon was his Alakazam.

"Alakazam!" bellowed the psychic Pokemon.

Jake noted that it might be hard to take down. He knew that Sabrina's Alakazam had powerful psychic abilities...and since Dr. Mart had likely managed to beat her or another Gym Leader of similar caliber, it was likely even stronger.

"Those psychic powers sure are problematic..." acknowledged Jake. On the plus side, Abras and their evolutions were not typically native to deserts.

He was going to have to find a way to make it so that Alakazam couldn't block the attacks with his telekinesis.

He decided to send out his Marowak.

He had Marowak toss a bone, but Alakazam simply grabbed the bone with his telekinesis.

After a few seconds of it hovering, he tossed it right back at Marowak.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the bone Pokemon. That gave him a bruise.

"Maybe you need to throw the bones more often..." suggested Jake.

Marowak nodded. Maybe he would gain an advantage that way.

He started tossing more and more bones to counter Alakazam's telekinetic powers.

Eventually, there were too many of them for him to block with his telekinesis.

One of the bones hit Alakazam on the head, and he fainted.

"Alakazam..." murmured the fainted psychic Pokemon.

Dr. Mart sighed. He had gone and lost. At least he managed to make it in the tournament...not every Pokemon trainer could say that.

"Good job. I learned a lot from that battle..." answered Dr. Mart.

"I think my Pokemon learned from that battle too..." stated Jake. Anyway, it looked like he was going to the second round of the tournament.

Now the only question was as to whether Chris would make it to the second round of the tournament. She would be rather angry if she didn't.

"We're both going to the second round of the tournament, Jake!" cheered Lucy.

"Yes...the only question is whether we'll make it past the second round too or not..." nodded Jake.

Personally, Chris wanted the announcer to hurry up and say her name already.

Fortunately, she did not have to wait long.

As it turned out, the announcer called out her name.

She wondered who she was up against.

Lucy decided to listen in.

Apparently, Chris was up against Crystal Himura.

"I think she has the same last name as you!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Oh no..." stated Chris, realizing who she was going to face.

She was up against...her own mother. Crystal was her mother's name.

"Looks like this is going to be a family reunion!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" agreed Lucy's Clefairy. How about that.

"Oh no..." remarked Chris. It appeared that she wasn't safe from being embarrassed by her even while she was up on a Pokemon Journey.

Of course, her encounter with her at Viridian City was proof enough of that.

Well, she might as well enter the arena and see what was in store for her. She didn't even know her mother had eight Pokemon badges. She HAD been a Pokemon trainer in her youth though, so it was likely that she still had her old gym badges.

What gym badges were there all those ages ago anyway? There were some that she did not recognize. Perhaps they were from other Pokemon regions.

"Greetings, Chris! I hope you enjoy my Pokemon battle! I'm so glad you managed to make it!" exclaimed Chris's mother.

"Yes, mother." nodded Chris reluctantly. To think that they were both on national TV, too. How could this get more humiliating?

As it turned out, they were going to be fighting in an arena that was a forest. It was going to be a bit hard to see their Pokemon. Maybe they could try climbing to the tops of the trees? Alternatively they could simply send out flying Pokemon and have them fight ABOVE the arena. As long as they didn't go out of bounds, they could sail through the air.

Chris wondered what Pokemon she should send out first. Since it was her mother she was talking about she should probably send out a Pokemon that makes her look tough.

It would probably be best for her not to send out her Jigglypuff...though admittedly people DID think that Jigglypuff was tough once they saw her in action.

So, she decided to send out a fighting type.

"Go, Hitmonlee!" exclaimed Chris.

"Hitmonlee!" bellowed the kicking Pokemon.

As it turned out, Karate Master Kiyo was watching in the audience. Apparently he liked to watch Pokemon tournaments firsthand. Either that, or he did not have a TV at the Fighting Dojo.

He was happy that Chris was using his former Pokemon for the tournament. He knew that fighting Pokemon deserved some exercise every once in a while.

Of course, from his encounter with Sabrina, he also knew that psychic Pokemon deserved exercise too...just mental exercise instead of physical. Most Psychic Pokemon would rather use telekinesis to lift heavy objects, as opposed to a fighting type who weren't really interested in brain puzzles...except for maybe an occasional sudoku puzzle.

Basically they had a lot of differences.

"Hmm...your Pokemon looks very strong. I better prepare accordingly!" exclaimed Chris's mother.

Immediately, she sent out Chansey.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the lucky Pokemon. She noted that it felt funny being in a Pokemon tournament instead of treating all the Pokemon that were injured. Nurse Joy must be rather busy this time of day.

"A Chansey?" questioned Chris. Wasn't that a Normal type? It didn't seem like a good idea to send it out against a fighting-type. Was she going to send out a rock-type next? Of course, their high defense did help protect them from fighting attacks...

Quickly, Chansey began to sing.

"Darn it!" bellowed the teenage girl. It looks like Hitmonlee was going to be taking a snooze.

"Hit...monlee..." murmured the kicking Pokemon in his sleep. Perhaps he was dreaming about fighting in a Pokemon dojo.

It looked like she was going to have wait for him to wake up.

But until then, he was open to Chansey's attacks.

Immediately, Chansey fired an Ice Beam at Hitmonlee.

In the process, some snow appeared on the trees. This was starting to become a rather frosty forest.

"I'm being beaten by my own strategy..." remarked Chris. It was really ironic.

Chansey then followed with a Flamethrower. How a Chansey could breathe fire was a mystery. But apparently Chris's mother was giving her Chansey some TMs to make her strong.

However, Chris noted that Hitmonlee was starting to wake up. Perhaps all the noise that Chansey was making was making him grumpy.

Speaking of which, Chansey was getting ready to use another technique.

This time, it used Thunderbolt.

In the process, one of the trees collapsed.

It ended up falling on Chansey.

"Chansey!" exclaimed the normal Pokemon. This was a big surprise.

Fortunately, Chansey was not harmed much by having the tree falling apart. However, she fainted regardless.

"This time my mother embarrassed herself instead of me...how about that." thought Chris.

Hitmonlee woke up shortly afterwards.

"Hitmonlee?" questioned the fighting Pokemon. He felt like he had been attacked...fortunately, he didn't feel too bad. He was up for another Pokemon battle...but maybe not too many. That Chansey had given him a beating, even if she did appear to be cute and innocent...which technically she was. She just liked a game of sport every now and then.

"Oh dear...it looks like my Chansey fainted. I'm just going to have to send out another Pokemon..." remarked Mrs. Himura.

"Of course, you are..." nodded Chris.

For her next Pokemon she decided to send out a Lickitung.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the tongue Pokemon. It's too bad that there wasn't sap on the trees that he could lick off. He bet that it would be delicious.

He was so cute that it looked like he was going to walk up and lick you in the face...oh wait, that was right. He was a Lickitung.

"Watch out for the tongue!" warned Chris.

Hitmonlee nodded. That tongue made a very good grappling hook, he must admit.

Of course, he could stretch out his legs pretty far...so he had a similar weapon.

Immediately, Lickitung stretched out his tongue and sent it towards Hitmonlee.

However, he simply stepped on top of it.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the tongue Pokemon. He was stuck.

"Gotcha!" bellowed Chris.

Hitmonlee then followed by kicking Lickitung with his remaining foot. Repeatedly.

"Licki licki lickitung!" exclaimed the unfortunate tongue Pokemon. This was not going well.

Suddenly, he managed to free his tongue, causing Hitmonlee to fall back down.

He then grabbed Hitmonlee by the leg and started pulling him towards his opponent.

Hitmonlee started to worry.

Eventually, Lickitung swallowed him.

"Licki licki licki!" bellowed Lickitung. Hitmonlee tasted rather good.

However, since he didn't want his trainer to be disqualified because her Pokemon ate another Pokemon, he decided to spit Hitmonlee out.

"Hitmonlee..." murmured the fighting Pokemon. After that incident, he was feeling exhausted. Lickitung really liked chewing his food.

Since Hitmonlee was clearly not looking forward to being eaten again, Chris decided to withdraw her Hitmonlee.

She needed a Pokemon that could counter Lickitung...preferably a Pokemon that Lickitung would not want to eat.

She decided to think of something.

She probably shouldn't use Tauros...there was a possibility that Lickitung had a hankering for meat.

"Rock on, Chris!" exclaimed Lucy.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Immediately, she sent out her Onix.

This made Lickitung concerned. He could not eat a Pokemon that was that big. He would get a sore throat trying.

What was he going to do now?

Suddenly, Chris had Onix use Rock Slide.

The rocks ended up falling on Lickitung.

"Lickitung!" exclaimed the tongue Pokemon as the rocks fell on him.

Lickitung fainted.

"Oh dear! It looks like I'm down to my last Pokemon!" exclaimed Crystal Himura.

"Yes, mother." nodded Chris.

She decided to send out her Clefable.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. It looked like her evolution was on the battlefield.

Lucy decided to scan Clefable with her Pokedex.

"Clefable, the Fairy Pokemon. A rare fairy Pokemon that will run and hide upon being spotted." read Lucy's Pokedex.

"This Pokemon looks an awfully lot like you, Clefairy..." noted Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

"That's your evolution? I wasn't sure whether you could evolve or not..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy..." stated the fairy Pokemon. She simply wasn't interested. She felt like if she was a Clefable she would be too big for Lucy to carry around. Besides, she liked being small.

And of course, some of her technology was designed for Clefairies instead of Clefables. They would be too small otherwise.

"Clefable, use Metronome!" exclaimed Ms. Himura.

Clefable did just that. Oddly enough, she seemed better at using it than Clefairy was. She was starting to feel a little jealous.

However, she ended up using Self-Destruct.

Immediately, Clefable began to self-destruct.

Fortunately for Onix, his hard rock armor allowed him to withstand the attack.

Clefable ended up fainting. Once again, Chris's mother ended up embarrassing herself. Chris noted that she was getting a taste of her own medicine...which she was taking all by herself.

Shortly afterwards, the announcer declared Chris the winner. It was rather interesting to get to see a battle between mother and daughter...with the daughter in question surpassing her mother as a Pokemon trainer.

Chris's mother gave Chris a hug.

"I'm so glad you're going further in the tournament! You even managed to surpass me!" bellowed Chris's mother.

"That actually is something to be proud about..." nodded Chris.

This time, Chris hugged her mother in return. It was nice to have a family reunion every once in a while, even if her mother was humiliating.

"If you need me I'll be cheering you on in the sidelines..." stated Chris's mother.

"Don't you need to get back home?" asked Chris.

"I suppose your father will want me back home before too long..." nodded the lady.

Chris nodded. It had been an exciting battle.

She wondered who she was going to face next in the tournament. She knew that it wasn't going to be Jerry at least.

Still, there were a lot of possibilities.

Well, whoever it was, she was going to enjoy fighting them.

"This tournament is just getting started!" exclaimed Chris.

_Jake and Chris are going to the second round too. This final arc is going to take a while, isn't it? Still, I think I'm going to enjoy writing it. Of course, I'll likely want to include an epilogue._

_You probably weren't expecting Chris's mother to be one of the competitors, huh? Well, I figured I'd give her more than one appearance in this fanfic...I like to flesh out my characters like that._


	61. Chapter 61: Reporting For Duty

_In this chapter, Ned is going up against Lt. Surge again! Surprise surprise. Apparently he's participating in the Pokemon Tournament too. Meanwhile, Lucy is going up against Mr. Fuji! Remember him from Lavender Town? It would have been rather hard to get past that sleeping Snorlax without him, wouldn't you say? Thank goodness for that Poke Flute._

_Of course, the Poke Flute can be used to wake up your Pokemon if they're sleeping in battle as well. It's rather useful that way._

**Chapter 61: Reporting For Duty**

Now that they all made it to the second round of the tournament, they wondered who their next opponent was going to be. They got the feeling that things weren't going to be so easy this time. That first round had certainly separated the strong Pokemon trainers from the weak ones.

Now that everyone had progressed past the first round or were sent home, it was time for the second round to begin. Maybe it would get better ratings on TV than the first round.

This time, they were going to be using a series of playing cards that had various Pokemon on them. Naturally, there were 64 different pairs.

Apparently, whoever got the same pair were going to be fighting each other in the Pokemon tournament.

Ned decided to pull out a card to see what he got. He decided to go for the yellow cards since they matched the color of his hair.

He ended up getting a Pikachu card. Apparently, the yellow cards were electric types.

"Does anyone else have a Pikachu card?" asked Ned.

"I do!" exclaimed a familiar-sounding voice.

Curious, Ned decided to turn around.

As it turned out, it was none other than Lt. Surge. It looked like they were going to be facing each other again...Ned noted that he had lost to Lt. Surge once...but the second time he had managed to win. Would he manage to win twice in a row or would Lt. Surge make the audience wonder how he managed to get the Thunder Badge.

"Lt. Surge? Funny meeting you like this..." answered the boy. Vermillion City was a fair distance away from the Indigo Plateau.

"You must be a real man if you managed to make it to the Indigo Plateau...you even got past the first round!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"Well, I was up against Jerry...he doesn't strategize too well..." remarked Ned. Maybe he would have gotten farther if he had simply chose his Pokemon differently.

"I'm glad you showed him your place...of course, you're going to be up against me next...you had better be ready!" bellowed the lieutenant.

"Sir, yes, sir. Wait, don't you give out badges instead of receiving them?" questioned the young boy. Of course, Pokemon trainers did collect badges before the tournament began, so he probably wouldn't be at his gym.

"Well, I needed to train my Pokemon somehow...besides, I had a huge type advantage against Misty!" exclaimed the military Pokemon trainer.

Speaking of which, she was his opponent in the first round of the tournament.

_"Go, Staryu!" exclaimed __Misty._

_Electabuzz punched Staryu with Thunder Punch, and it fainted._

_"Star...yu..." murmured the starfish Pokemon, its core blinking to signify that it fainted._

_Misty wondered if she should have stuck to traveling with Ash Ketchum. He did technically still owe that bike._

_Of course, she felt a bit lonely without her three sisters. Maybe she could do with a play with them. She liked her mermaid costume...though she was a bit worried how long she could hold her breath._

"I bet you did..." nodded Ned.

On the other hand, he likely had a hard time facing off against Giovanni...assuming that he got the Earth Badge before he was arrested.

Ned wondered what the next arena was going to be.

As it turned out, it was a factory type of arena.

"Score!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

"Oh darn." said Ned. If only he was in a rock quarry type of arena.

"It looks like Lt. Surge has the advantage..." answered Lucy.

"Clefairy." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. She wondered if there was some sort of moon arena. She would love that.

Of course, there was the possibility that they would switch off the gravity as part of the arena. Would they need to wear space suits?

"Part of me wishes that I could face him in the tournament...I'd like to show him how much of a man I am..." stated Chris.

"But you're a girl..." pointed out Jake.

"I know that..." nodded the teenage girl.

Lt. Surge decided that he was going to go first. It was not in character for him to run away from battle. What would the general think?

"Go, Electabuzz!" exclaimed Lt. Surge as he tossed one of his Pokeballs.

"Electa buzz buzz!" bellowed the electric Pokemon, cracking his knuckles.

Ned noted that Lt. Surge was using electric Pokemon once again. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised.

Of course, he could take advantage of that.

He decided to send out his Golem. She was going to be his friend for this battle...and the battles after that.

"Go, Golem!" shouted Ned.

"Golem!" exclaimed Ned's Golem as she came out of her Pokeball. She was excited to participate in the Pokemon tournament. There were going to be a lot of Pokemon watching her on TV along with her trainers...assuming that they weren't participating in the tournament themselves.

However, though Golem was immune to Lt. Surge's electric attacks, there was still the matter of his Pokemon getting to go first because they were faster. Electric Pokemon were known for their speed.

It would probably be best for Golem to try to protect herself.

"Kick him out of the tournament!" exclaimed Jerry in the audience.

Chris noted that Jerry did not take losing well. No doubt he wanted Lt. Surge to win so that Ned couldn't compete any further. It would be so satisfying to see him lose on television.

As it turned out, Lt. Surge was having Electabuzz use Thunder Punch.

However, it simply bounced off of Golem's shell.

"Golem?" questioned the golem Pokemon. She didn't really feel that at all.

Electabuzz realized his mistake.

"Electabuzz..." murmured the electric Pokemon. That didn't work out too well.

In retaliation, Golem used Earthquake.

"Electabuzz!" bellowed the electric Pokemon. That really hurt. Too bad he didn't have wings.

In the process, some of the machinery in the arena fell on top of him. Ned noted that the machinery must be pretty heavy.

"Electabuzz!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

"Electabuzz..." murmured Lt. Surge's unfortunate electric Pokemon. Fortunately, he was able to get the heavy machinery off of him.

In the audience, the Kanto Elite Four (who were Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Drake respectively) were watching. Apparently, they had decided to watch the tournament themselves.

They wondered if Lt. Surge would become a member of the Elite Four one day. It could happen to any of the Gym Leaders.

Though Electabuzz was injured by the falling machinery, he had not fainted yet. He did appear to be bruised though. Perhaps another attack would take him down.

"Yes! Hang in there!" exclaimed the lieutenant.

Of course, if Electabuzz fainted, he would recall him into his Pokeball. He lived by a philosophy of not leaving a man or Pokemon behind. Besides, Nurse Joy was right around the corner.

Since electricity attacks were ineffective, he was going to have to do something different.

However, since he was a military lieutenant, he had trained his Pokemon with bare-handed combat techniques.

In other words, his Electabuzz knew fighting-type moves.

"Electabuzz, use Low Kick!" exclaimed Electabuzz.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned. Last time he checked, Golem was a heavyweight.

"Golem!" bellowed the rock Pokemon as she was knocked on her back. That kick really hurt.

Now it looked like Electabuzz was exploiting HIS Pokemon's weaknesses. This was rather ironic.

He was going to have to find a way to get past Electabuzz's martial art techniques.

Of course, now that he thought of it...he doubted that Electabuzz could use his martial art techniques if he kept at a distance...unless he somehow had elastic arms.

So, he had Golem roll into a ball and spin around the factory, making Electabuzz rather dizzy.

"Electabuzz..." murmured the electric Pokemon.

Unfortunately, Electabuzz couldn't catch up so that he could attack Golem up close.

Eventually, he started to feel rather tired, sweating and panting.

"I think now's your chance!" exclaimed Ned.

Ned's Golem nodded, and used Rollout to attack Electabuzz, crushing him underneath her weight and shell.

This had rather predictable results. Electabuzz quickly fainted, familiar swirls in his eyes. If only Golem were a lighter Pokemon.

"I was hoping you would use brawn instead of brain...but now that I think of it I probably would be a goner if it weren't for my general coming up with battle strategies..." acknowledged Lt. Surge. He hoped that maybe he could be promoted to general one day...however, there hadn't been any wars in Kanto ever since the one that he had participated in. The closest thing to that was Officer Jenny and her sisters' conflict with Team Rocket, and even they they had been arrested recently.

Of course, that wasn't a bad thing at all.

"Alright then...time for me to send out another Pokemon! Go, Electrode!" exclaimed Lt. Surge, tossing another Pokeball.

"Electrode!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"You do realize explosions won't dent Golem's shell, right?" asked Ned. The Pokedex did say that Golems could withstand dynamite explosions, even if they were weak to water and grass attacks.

Lt. Surge noted that was a problem. Golem was more durable than a tank. They would probably use Golems instead of tanks if they could only fire cannonballs.

Electrode wondered why Lt. Surge only used electric types. It would like it if there were other types of Pokemon on his team. That way fighting other Pokemon trainers would be easier.

Suddenly, Lt. Surge noted that there was a generator in the arena. Apparently, if it exploded, it would release a big explosion that would send his opponent flying.

At least, that was what it said on the label.

He decided to give it a test run.

"Electrode, use Explosion next to the generator!" ordered Lt. Surge.

Electrode immediately followed his trainer's instructions.

Both Electrode and the generator exploded, sending Golem out of the arena.

It looked like it was a double knockout.

"Electrode..." murmured Lt. Surge's Electrode. Though he had fainted, he was smiling.

Of course, he was usually smiling. Making explosions was so much fun.

"Golem!" exclaimed Ned's Golem. That was a pretty big explosion. She really wasn't expecting that.

"Uh-oh..." thought Ned. Now he didn't have his Golem to use against Lt. Surge's last Pokemon.

He was going to have to improvise. At least he still had two Pokemon left.

Perhaps there was another Pokemon that he had that would be effective against electric types.

Well, his Victreebel was resistant to electricity. That was a perk of being a grass type...though he figured he would rather use it against a Pokemon that was a water, rock, or ground type.

He decided that he would use that.

"Go, Victreebel!" exclaimed Ned.

"Victreebel!" bellowed the grass Pokemon.

Once again, Ned found himself being hugged. Some things never changed. At least Victreebel hugged him gently this time.

"Guess what, Victreebel? I'm up against the Gym Leader I already defeated once before..." stated Ned.

Victreebel quickly noticed. Did this mean that Ned would earn another Thunder Badge if he won?

Either way, it was going to be exciting.

For his last Pokemon Lt. Surge sent out his Raichu.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon.

Ned wondered if he should send out his own Raichu if Victreebel fainted. Maybe he could fight electricity with electricity.

For now, he decided to have his Victreebel fight Raichu. He got the feeling that he could count on her.

"Victreebel, use Sleep Powder!" ordered Ned.

Victreebel nodded, and Raichu fell asleep. Perhaps he shouldn't have breathed that in and kept his mouth shut.

"Rai rai raichu..." murmured Lt. Surge's Raichu in his sleep. Maybe he was dreaming about cheese?

"Not again!" bellowed Lt. Surge.

Chris smirked. This was the same method that she used to defeat Lt. Surge in order to get her Thunder Badge. Perhaps Lt. Surge needed a Pokemon that wouldn't fall asleep that easily.

Of course, they were playing by the Pokemon Tournament rules instead of Lt. Surge's rules, so Lt. Surge didn't lose automatically.

Now that Raichu was asleep, Ned decided that now would be a good time to attack.

"Use Solarbeam!" exclaimed Ned.

Immediately, Victreebel began to charge for a Solar Beam attack.

"This can't be good..." remarked Lt. Surge.

Looking up, he noticed that it was a rather sunny day.

He started to wish that it were a rainy day instead. His Pokemon would benefit from that.

Once Victreebel was done charging, she sent it straight towards Raichu.

Raichu was sent flying out of the arena.

"Raichu!" bellowed the electric Pokemon.

"Ned Kagome is our winner!" exclaimed the announcer.

Ned smiled and waved to the audience. They were all applauding him for his victory.

Lt. Surge applauded Ned. Once again, he had proven himself to be a man. Not only that, but he was going to the third round.

Of course, his partner Chris was still more of a man than he was...but he could live with that.

"Good job! You'd make a great soldier if you ever participated in the military!" exclaimed Lt. Surge.

"I don't think I'm cut out for military school..." noted Ned. The other students would probably walk all over him.

"Yeah...you're probably better off as a scientist..." agreed Chris. On the other hand, she had the feeling that SHE would do well at military school. She decided that she would stay a Pokemon trainer for the time being...unless they trained Pokemon at the military camp, of course.

"Well, whatever you think you should be your career..." remarked the lieutenant. Personally he didn't think that being a Gym Leader would be his calling himself. But then he realized how good he was at using electric Pokemon. Apparently, going to military school had benefitted him.

Victreebel happily hugged Ned once again. She had won! And so had he.

Well, now it was time for Lucy to select a card. She decided that she would pick one next.

"Do you want to decide, Clefairy?" questioned Lucy.

"Clefairy." stated Lucy's Clefairy, pointing to a card that was pink.

Lucy picked it up.

As it turned out, it was a card with the picture of a Clefairy on it.

"Good find, Clefairy...but who got the other Clefairy card?" asked Lucy.

"That was me." said a familiar voice.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

Lucy turned around.

As it turned out, it was Mr. Fuji.

"Hello there, Mr. Fuji!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Hello, Lucy. How is the Psyduck you adopted?" questioned the Pokemon adopter.

"Pretty good...it evolved into a Golduck." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

"Very good! Apparently you've been a good influence on him..." remarked Mr. Fuji.

"Of course I have..." nodded Lucy.

"Very good." answered the elderly man. Apparently, he had chosen a responsible Pokemon trainer.

"So...who did you face in the first round of the tournament?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Clefairy." stated Lucy's Clefairy. That was a rather good question.

"Oh, it was my friend, Blaine from Cinnabar Island..." remarked Mr. Fuji.

"How did that turn out?" questioned the female Pokemon trainer.

"Pretty good...after the battle we went to the Pokemon Tower to pay our respects to the deceased Pokemon there..." stated the man. There were a lot of ghost Pokemon living in the tower. It was a good thing that he didn't go in alone.

_"It's nice getting to hang out with you like this..." nodded Blaine._

_"I didn't know you were also participating in the tournament..." stated Mr. Fuji._

_"Well, I figured it would be a good time to ask trainers some trivia questions...of course, you already know them all..." remarked the fire Pokemon trainer._

_"I suppose I do..." nodded the elderly man._

"Are you ready?" asked Mr. Fuji.

"Uh-huh!" exclaimed Lucy.

Immediately, she stepped into the arena along with Mr. Fuji.

For the battle they were going to be participating in a graveyard sort of arena. Lucy noted that it was dark and spooky.

She decided to send out her Ponyta.

"Go, Ponyta!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Ponyta!" shouted Ponyta as she was released from her Pokeball.

Suddenly, her stomach grumbled. She was feeling rather hungry.

Fortunately, there was a flower growing from the graves.

She began to munch on it.

"Are you going...to fight Mr. Fuji?" questioned Lucy.

Ponyta suddenly remembered what she was doing.

In retaliation, he sent out his Poliwag.

"Hmm...it looks like he has a type advantage..." remarked Lucy.

Ponyta noted that was unfortunate. Of course, she supposed that she shouldn't be surprised that Mr. Fuji had a water type since he managed to defeat Blaine.

However, Lucy also noted that her Ponyta was faster than Poliwag was. Maybe she could take advantage of that.

"Maybe we should play defense..." stated Lucy.

Ponyta nodded. Poliwag was probably going to shoot bubbles at her.

"Try using Agility!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Ponyta nodded. She was feeling the need for speed...so why not use that technique? It might give her an edge.

Immediately, she surrounded herself with blue energy.

Quickly, she found herself much faster than before.

Poliwag attempted to use Bubblebeam, but he missed.

He was rather bewildered as to how fast Ponyta was. It appeared that he wasn't going to be able to beat her in a race. Unless it was a swimming race. Then he would have the advantage.

"Now use Stomp!" ordered Lucy.

Ponyta nodded. Since her hooves were really hard, being stomped on by her species really hurt...especially once they evolved into Rapidashes.

"Poliwag!" bellowed the water Pokemon. That hurt his head.

This time Poliwag attempted to use a different attack.

He used Body Slam.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. That was a rather effective attack at close-range.

Fortunately, Poliwag was not a very heavy Pokemon.

In retaliation, Ponyta kicked Poliwag and sent him flying...

...right outside the arena.

"Poliwag." murmured the unfortunate water Pokemon. He wished that he was heavier.

On the lighter side, he noticed that someone in the audience was blowing bubbles. He found that to be rather amusing. He found blowing bubbles to be rather entertaining himself.

"Poliwag is out of the ring!" exclaimed the announcer.

Mr. Fuji withdrew his Poliwag. At least Poliwag didn't end up fainting.

Of course, he didn't faint during his battle with Blaine either. He had managed to win the fight for him. Having only fire types on one's team did have its disadvantages.

Since Poliwag was out of the picture he decided to send out another Pokemon that was super effective against Ponyta.

"Go, Cubone!" exclaimed Mr. Fuji.

"Cubone!" shouted the ground Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

Fortunately, Cubone would not resist fire attacks like Poliwag did...though it would still be painful if Cubone hit Ponyta with his bone regardless.

So, Lucy decided to have Ponyta use Fire Spin.

"Fire Spin!" commanded Lucy.

Lucy's Ponyta nodded, and she used fire to trap Cubone.

"Cubone!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon. How was he going to whack Ponyta with his bone with the fire preventing him from reaching her?

Ponyta took advantage of the situation, using fireballs to hit Cubone while he was trying to put the fire out.

Suddenly, Cubone picked up a grave and tossed it at Ponyta.

"Ponyta!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon. That hurt.

Shortly afterwards, the flames died out.

Cubone noticed that there was a skeleton in one of the graves.

As it turned out, that was precisely what he was looking for.

Immediately, he tossed the skeleton at Ponyta.

Since that counted as a ground-type attack, Ponyta fainted.

"Oh no! Ponyta!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Ponyta..." murmured the fainted fire Pokemon. She found it rather ironic that she ended up fainting in a cemetery.

"I guess I'm going to have to send in another Pokemon." stated Lucy as she returned her Ponyta to her Pokeball.

"I hope it's a Pokemon that's rather peaceful..." said Mr. Fuji.

"It is, trust me." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

For her next Pokemon, she decided to send out her Venusaur.

"Venusaur!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon.

Cubone immediately decided to whack Venusaur with his bone.

But when he lifted it above his head, he found it being snatched with Vine Whip.

"Cubone?" questioned the skull Pokemon. Where did his bone go?

Venusaur took it from his hands and put it in her mouth where Cubone couldn't grab it.

"Cubone!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon. He had been disarmed!

Venusaur then stomped Cubone, and Cubone fainted.

"Cubone..." murmured the fainted ground Pokemon.

Venusaur spat out Cubone's bone so that he could have it back now that he had fainted.

Cubone picked it back up.

Mr. Fuji withdrew Cubone into his Pokeball.

"It looks like you're down to your last Pokemon..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. If they managed to make that Pokemon faint, then she would be the winner.

Mr. Fuji decided that for his last Pokemon he would send out his Weedle.

"Go, Weedle!" exclaimed Mr. Fuji.

"Weedle!" bellowed the bug Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.

"A Weedle?" questioned Lucy.

"Clefairy?" asked Lucy's Clefairy. She was expecting a stronger Pokemon.

"He's a strong Weedle." explained Mr. Fuji.

"If you say so." answered the female Pokemon trainer.

However, it turned out Weedle appeared to be rather frightened of Venusaur. Venusaur was a lot bigger than he was.

Lucy noted that perhaps she should send out a Pokemon that wouldn't frighten Weedle so easily. Maybe there was a Pokemon that she was more familiar with.

She decided that she would send out her Golduck...since it was a Pokemon that Mr. Fuji had given her.

She withdrew her Venusaur and sent out her Golduck.

"Go, Golduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Golduck!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"You're using the Pokemon I gave you to fight me?" questioned Mr. Fuji.

"Well, it is a friendly competition..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy." said Lucy's Clefairy. Lucy had a point there.

"You have a point. Weedle, use Poison Sting!" ordered the man.

Weedle nodded, and charged towards Golduck.

Golduck was surprised how fast Weedle was. He was having a hard time avoiding that poison stinger.

Adding to that, when he tried attacking him, Weedle simply avoided it.

Eventually, Weedle successfully managed to sting him in the leg. Golduck was poisoned...badly.

"Gol...duck..." murmured the water Pokemon. He got the feeling that he was going to faint soon.

"We need to use a more accurate attack! Use Surf!" commanded Lucy.

Golduck nodded. Maybe THAT would work.

Immediately, a tidal wave appeared and was sent towards Weedle.

"Weedle?" questioned the surprised Pokemon.

The tidal wave hit Weedle...making him faint.

"Weedle..." murmured the fainted bug Pokemon.

"Lucy Hisakawa is our winner!" exclaimed the announcer.

"Congratulations, Lucy. Clearly you've been looking after your Pokemon." stated Mr. Fuji.

"Of course I have. That's who I am." said Lucy.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She could always count on her Pokemon trainer.

"I'll be seeing you later, Lucy." said the man.

Lucy nodded.

Now it was Jake's turn to decide which card he should pick.

"Here goes nothing." stated Jake.

_Ned managed to defeat Lt. Surge again! And Lucy managed to defeat her opponent as well. That's something to be proud of, right?_

_They're both going to be in the third round of the tournament. Now it's Chris and Jake's turn to enter the tournament...let's see if they get to the third round or not._


	62. Chapter 62: Stop Copying Me

_In this chapter, Jake is going up against Copycat...whose going to be using the exact same Pokemon that he's using...how she managed to get her hands on those...I have no idea._

_After that, Chris is going up against Karate Master Kiyo. Hiya!_

_In the next chapter, we're going to see some more familiar faces..._

**Chapter 62: Stop Copying Me**

"Let's see...which one should I pick?" questioned Jake. Lucy and Ned had already gone in before him, so he figured now was good of a time to pick a card as any.

He decided to choose a card that was pink. Maybe it reminded him of Lucy.

He ended up getting a Ditto card. He wondered what it would be like to have a Ditto. It could be any Pokemon that he wished...though of course he was content with his own Pokemon as it was.

"Alright...who else has a Ditto card?" asked the boy.

"That's me!" exclaimed a girl that was in the tournament.

Curious, he looked around and noticed Copycat. He seemed to recall Ned meeting her at Saffron City. Apparently she had managed to collect eight different gym badges too. He wondered what it would be like if Ned was facing her in the tournament instead of him. Well, he still got to watch the battle.

Immediately, she put on an outfit so she was dressed exactly like he was. Jake was impressed how quickly she put it on.

He wondered why she was doing that. Couldn't she just wear her regular outfit?

"Are you ready to fight?" asked Jake.

"Are YOU ready to fight?" questioned Copycat. Much to his surprise, she sounded exactly like him when she said that. Apparently, she was rather good at mimicking voices.

"Yes, I am." nodded the former Team Rocket Grunt.

"Let's go outside then!" exclaimed Copycat in Jake's voice.

"Of course." answered Jake. He wondered if taking on Copycat was going to take some getting used to. Maybe she was going to use the same strategy that he was?

This time, the arena was going to be inside a city, or a rather a replica of one.

Fortunately, it was not a very big city. Otherwise, the Pokemon would have a hard time looking for each other.

Jake noted that it suited Copycat just fine...and yet, since he lived in Celadon City, it suited him too.

Apparently, neither of them had a terrain advantage. Ah well.

Oddly enough Ned appeared to be cheering Copycat on. Well, he was welcome to cheer on any Pokemon trainer he wished...though he doubted that he would cheer on Jerry.

"Go, Copycat!" exclaimed Ned.

Copycat smiled. She was glad that Ned was giving her support. They were rather good friends.

Likewise, Lucy was cheering on Jake. She was hoping that he could make it to the third round too. That way he would be in the top sixty-four.

"You can do this, Jake!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. She knew that Jake was one tough cookie.

Speaking of which, she took a cookie jar from another Pokemon trainer.

"Where did you get those cookies?" questioned Lucy.

"Clef..." stated Lucy's Clefairy. This was rather awkward. Why did Lucy always catch her whenever she stole something?

"Well, you better share them with everyone here..." stated the female Pokemon trainer.

Lucy's Clefairy shrugged. Now that she thought of it...there were too many cookies in there for her to eat herself. Maybe she SHOULD share them with others.

She immediately started handing them out to the Pokemon trainers in the audience.

Meanwhile, Jake sent out his Grimer.

"Go, Grimer!" exclaimed Jake.

However, much to his surprise, Copycat ended up sending out the same Pokemon.

"Go, Grimer!" shouted Copycat.

"You have a Grimer too?" questioned the male Pokemon trainer.

"Yes, I do...one of them slithered out of a garbage truck on the way to my house..." stated the girl. There were a lot of Pokemon that could be found in the big city.

Jake supposed that did make sense. She did live in a city like he did.

Well, now it was a simple matter of seeing which Grimer would be able to beat the other. Fortunately, he was able to distinguish his Grimer from Copycat's so that he could see who would win. His was bigger.

"Grimer, use Mud-Slap!" exclaimed Jake.

Immediately, Jake's Grimer pelted Copycat's Grimer with mud. Hopefully he wouldn't get any on the carpet.

"Grimer!" bellowed Copycat's Grimer. Sometimes he wondered why he liked to play in the mud. He did find ground Pokemon in there from time to time.

Well, maybe he could throw stuff at his opponent too. Give him a taste of his own medicine.

Immediately, he tossed some sludge at Jake's Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed Jake's Grimer. The sludge had gotten on his face.

Quickly, he wiped himself off.

"Grime grime grime..." murmured the sludge Pokemon. Of course, technically he was made out of sludge...he liked to be able to see his surroundings though.

Suddenly, Copycat's Grimer began to evolve, much to Copycat's pleasant surprise.

"Uh-oh..." stated Jake. Sometimes this happened when he was in the middle of a Pokemon battle. It was rather inconvenient for him. Did some Pokemon have it out for him or something?

"Yes!" cheered Copycat.

"I didn't know that girls were into Grimers..." said the former Team Rocket Grunt as Grimer began to evolve.

"Well, my house is messy sometimes so he felt right at home..." explained the girl.

"That makes sense..." nodded Jake.

"Besides, he's rather cute!" exclaimed Copycat.

At that very moment, Grimer evolved into Muk. Grimer wondered how he was going to beat his evolution. He certainly was a lot bigger than he was.

Already, his evolution was hurling sludge at him, forcing to take cover. Fortunately, there were several hiding spots inside the city.

He decided to choose the trash can. He liked digging into the trash.

Quickly, he hid inside.

"I wonder where my Grimer went..." stated Jake. He sure hoped that his Grimer wasn't running away from trouble. That wasn't how he raised him.

Muk began to look for him. He had to be around the arena somewhere...otherwise he would be considered out of the ring and Jake would lose one of his Pokemon for the round.

Curious, he noticed that one of the trash cans was shaking.

He decided to investigate. That was rather suspicious.

Suddenly, Grimer lunged out from the trash can.

"Muk!" bellowed Muk in surprise.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the smaller sludge Pokemon.

He latched onto his face and refused to let go.

"Muk!" exclaimed Copycat's Muk. Why wouldn't Grimer let go?

Grimer then picked up the lid of the trash can and used it to hit Muk upside the head.

Muk fainted.

"Muk..." murmured the sludge Pokemon. He had fallen victim to a surprise attack, it seemed.

"That wasn't what I was expecting...but good job, Grimer." stated Jake.

"Grimer grime!" exclaimed Grimer. Improvisation worked wonders.

Copycat was rather unhappy that her Muk had lost, but she still had two Pokemon left.

She decided to withdraw Muk and send out another Pokemon. Perhaps Grimer needed a bath.

"Go, Squirtle!" exclaimed Copycat, pulling out another Pokeball.

"Squirtle!" bellowed the water Pokemon. She was hoping for a water arena...but maybe a city arena would do just fine. She found being in a big city to be rather exciting.

"This Pokemon reminds me of my Blastoise..." questioned Jake.

Of course, Squirtle wasn't fully evolved like Blastoise was. Still, she was probably going to put up a challenge.

In the audience, a Pokemon trainer who was quite possibly separated from Ash at birth was watching along with his friend Duplica. His name was Richie...and for some odd reason he was just like Ash Ketchum.

For some strange reason, he wasn't too popular...he didn't know why considering that he was competing in the Indigo Plateau conference.

"This girl reminds me of someone...I'm not sure who though..." stated Richie.

"Beats me..." answered Duplica.

"Does she have any other starter Pokemon?" questioned Ned.

"She probably does...Pokemon trainers like trading their Pokemon..." nodded Lucy.

"True..." agreed the blonde.

Immediately, Squirtle squirted Grimer with his water gun. It was a critical hit.

"Squirtle!" cheered the water Pokemon. She loved it when that happened. Of course, sometimes that happened to her...but it wasn't usually so bad. Her shell could protect her from critical hits. She was a very hardy Pokemon. Maybe she could join the Squirtle Squad...but she wouldn't wear sunglasses at night.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon as he was hit by Squirtle's water spray. Now he was soaking wet.

He wondered if he should try hiding again...

...however, when he attempted to move away from Squirtle, he left behind a trail of water.

It looked like hiding in the city wasn't going to work this time.

"Grimer..." murmured the sludge Pokemon. He thought hiding in that trash can was fun, too. It was full of garbage.

Grimer attempted to toss sludge at Squirtle...but she withdrew into her shell to counter the attack.

Though the shell was now messy, Squirtle did not appear to be affected.

She withdrew from her shell a few seconds later.

"Grimer..." murmured the sludge Pokemon. Were all his attacks going to be futile? Squirtle had rather impressive defenses.

She then Body Slammed Grimer.

"Grimer!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

That was not fun. Grimer fainted.

"Grimer..." murmured the sludge Pokemon, collapsing into a puddle of...well, sludge.

Now that his starter Pokemon was out of picture, it appeared that Jake was going to have to send out another Pokemon. Maybe he could find a better matchup.

Fortunately, he had an idea of what to do.

"Go, Vileplume!" exclaimed Jake.

"Vileplume!" shouted the grass and poison Pokemon. This arena reminded her of Celadon City.

"Squirtle..." murmured the water Pokemon. The odds seemed stacked in her favor a few minutes ago. It looked like the tables had turned.

Speaking of which, she was up for some Pokechow right now. That would do nicely in her belly.

"Vileplume, use Stun Spore!" exclaimed Jake.

Vileplume nodded, and scattered Stun Spore throughout the city.

However, Squirtle withdrew into her shell again, so she didn't end up being exposed to it.

"We're going to have to do something about that..." stated Jake.

"Vileplume..." stated the grass Pokemon. She nodded in agreement. Squirtle really had a strong shell.

Fortunately, he had an idea.

Immediately, he waited for Squirtle to attack.

She did just that, spitting out bubbles at Vileplume.

However, Vileplume decided to strike while she was attacking instead of waiting for the attack to finish.

Suddenly, Squirtle found herself being hit by petals. Unfortunately, she did not withdraw into her shell in time and experienced the entire attack.

"Squirtle!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

All those petals made her feel rather dizzy.

Unfortunately for Squirtle, Vileplume was up for another round.

She used Petal Dance again, and this time Squirtle fainted.

"Squirtle..." murmured the fainted turtle Pokemon. The fight was fun while it lasted.

Now Copycat was down to her last Pokemon.

She decided to send out her Oddish.

"Oddish!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. Strangely enough despite being Oddish people considered her Pokemon trainer to be more odd than she was. It was somewhat ironic.

Vileplume noted that Copycat's Oddish reminded her of herself back when she was young...and of course when she was caught by Jake. Maybe she just enjoyed her youth due to how nostalgic it was.

Immediately, Vileplume continued using Petal Dance.

However, Oddish managed to evade them.

She then sighed in relief. Thank goodness that didn't hit.

Shortly afterwards, Vileplume began to use dizzy. She could only use Petal Dance for so long before feeling that way.

It looked like it was time for Jake to switch Pokemon so that Vileplume could recover. Otherwise Vileplume could end up hurting herself while attacking her opponent.

He pulled out Vileplume's Pokeball.

"Why don't you go back into your Pokeball? I'm going to let another Pokemon take over..." said Jake.

Vileplume nodded. That seemed like a good idea. Of course, Jake would have to send her out again if his last Pokemon ended up fainting.

Pressing the button, Vileplume was sent back into her Pokeball. Jake wondered if there was some sort of garden inside of that Pokeball.

Now he needed to send out a Pokemon that would have a type advantage.

He decided to send out his Magmar.

"Go, Magmar!" exclaimed Jake.

"Magmar!" bellowed the fire Pokemon, belching out a fireball.

It was a good thing that he held on to him after his trip to Mt. Ember. Having a fire Pokemon could really come in handy.

Oddish began to worry. If only Squirtle hadn't fainted during his battle with Vileplume. It was too late to do something about that now.

"Magmar, use Flamethrower!" ordered Jake.

Magyar used Flamethrower, and hit Oddish with his Flamethrower.

"Oddish..." murmured the grass Pokemon. Maybe her Pokemon Trainer should have brought Burn Heals.

Oddish fainted.

"Oddish..." murmured the fainted grass Pokemon.

"Jake Kurosawa is our winner!" exclaimed the announcer.

"Good job..." stated Copycat.

"So...are you going to stop mimicking me now?" asked Jake.

"I suppose..." nodded the girl.

Immediately, she removed the outfit that made her resemble Jake.

"Maybe next time I'll dress up as one of your friends..." stated Copycat.

"That's an interesting idea." nodded the young man.

For now, Jake decided to go back to the hotel.

Now that he was going to the third round, he figured that he should be excited. He was under the impression that he was doing fairly decently.

However, he wondered who his next opponent was going to be. First it was a scientist and then it was Copycat. Who was going to be next?

Well, he was going to find that out after the third round of the tournament was over. He supposed that he could wait a bit longer.

Of course, he still had yet to hear from Chris. Was she going to make it to the third round too?

As it turned out, Chris had decided to pick out a gray card.

On the gray card was a picture of Machop on it.

"Let's see who I get to fight, shall we?" questioned Chris.

She went to look for who had the Machop card as well.

She found him rather quickly.

"So...you have the Machop card too, don't you? This is going to be an interesting rematch, isn't it?" questioned Chris.

"I managed to catch some more fighting Pokemon, so I decided to test them out...I managed to get eight gym badges!" exclaimed Karate Master Kiyo.

"Didn't you lose to Sabrina earlier?" asked the female Pokemon trainer. She wondered how he managed to beat her with his fighting type Pokemon.

"I challenged her to a trivia contest..." stated the black belt.

_"Which fighting Pokemon evolves through a trade?" questioned the psychic._

_"It's Machoke!" bellowed Kiyo._

_"What does it evolve into?" inquired the man._

_"Machamp!" exclaimed the black belt._

_"Congratulations! Here is your Marsh Badge!" shouted the psychic._

_Sabrina applauded Kiyo for beating her._

_"Good luck at the Indigo Plateau." stated the psychic lady._

"Don't Pokemon trainers usually battle the Gym Leader to get gym badges? Granted, I did manage to get the Boulder Badge from Brock without actually fighting him..." noted Chris.

"Well, the Gym Leader's Pokemon were recuperating at the Pokemon Center at a time...besides, she has psychic powers like they do." explained the fighting Pokemon trainer.

"You make a good point." nodded the teenager.

"You ready to fight in the arena?" inquired Karate Master Kiyo.

"As I'll ever be!" exclaimed Chris.

Immediately, Karate Master Kiyo and Chris went into the arena.

It was going to be a dojo arena this time...similar to Kiyo's fighting gym.

"And Kiyo has the advantage...well, I like a challenge." stated Chris.

"Be careful, Chris!" warned Ned.

"Right, whatever makes you happy." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

Since he had the advantage, Kiyo decided to go first.

"Go, Primeape!" exclaimed Kiyo.

"Primeape!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon. He wondered if there was a planet somewhere that was full of ape Pokemon. If so, he would like to visit it. However, the humans probably wouldn't keep their stinking hands to themselves and try to grab him.

"You're not making a Mankey out of me! Go, Fearow!" exclaimed Chris.

"Fearow!" bellowed Chris's bird Pokemon.

"Using a flying Pokemon against my fighting Pokemon? Clever." remarked Kiyo.

"I like to be on the top of the pecking order." answered Chris.

Fearow found that to be rather amusing. He enjoyed being top of the pecking order too.

"Primeape, use Seismic Toss!" exclaimed Kiyo.

Primeape nodded, and attempted to grab Fearow.

However, he couldn't reach him while he was in the sky.

"Primeape..." murmured the fighting Pokemon. This was very frustrating. How was he going to hit Fearow?

Of course, Chris knew how she was going to hit Primeape.

"Drill Peck!" ordered Chris.

Immediately, Chris's Fearow pecked Primeape with his long beak. Repeatedly.

"Primeape!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon. He was taking a lot of damage.

In retaliation, he punched Fearow.

"Fearow!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon. His punch was like a sledge hammer.

"C'mon! You shouldn't faint that easily..." stated Chris.

Fearow nodded. He was just getting warmed up.

For his next attack he decided to hit Primeape with his wings.

"Primeape!" exclaimed the ape Pokemon. That one was a critical hit.

In retaliation, he attempted to kick Fearow.

However, he found his arm being grabbed by Fearow's talons.

"Primeape?" questioned the ape Pokemon.

Fearow picked him up and began to fly up towards the sky, much to Primeape's concern.

Chris had a feeling what Fearow was planning.

Sure enough, after getting to a high enough altitude, Fearow dropped Primeape to the ground.

"Primeape!" screeched the ape Pokemon as he was dropped. This was going to be a very nasty fall.

He crashed into the arena, and he fainted.

"Primeape..." murmured the fighting Pokemon. It was times like this when he wished that he was a Persian instead of a Primeape. They always landed on their feet.

Maybe Karate Master Kiyo should have played Pokemon Silver instead of Pokemon Gold.

"That's one Pokemon down..." acknowledged Chris.

It looked like it was time for Karate Master Kiyo to send out another Pokemon.

He did just that.

This time, he sent out his Poliwrath.

"Go, Poliwrath!" exclaimed the black belt.

"Poliwrath!" shouted the water Pokemon.

"Isn't that a water type?" questioned Chris.

"He's both a water and a fighting type!" exclaimed Kiyo. Sometimes Pokemon had two types instead of one.

"I suppose that makes sense..." answered the female Pokemon trainer. Poliwrath did look rather muscular for a water type...though at the same time, he still looked like a water type regardless.

Sure enough, Poliwrath was flexing his muscles.

Well, Chris decided to fight Poliwrath while he was distracted.

"Use Drill Peck!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Fearow nodded, and lunged towards Poliwrath with his beak.

However, the pecks simply bounced off of Poliwrath's big round belly.

"Fearow?" questioned the bird Pokemon. This seemed to work so well against Primeape.

Now it was Poliwrath's turn.

Immediately, he sent Fearow flying with a single punch.

"Fearow!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon.

He then followed by sending a tidal wave towards Fearow.

Unfortunately for Fearow, he was swept away by the tide. It was a big tidal wave.

In the process, some of the audience got soaked. Perhaps they should have picked seats that were further away from the fight.

"Good thing I brought an umbrella...wait, did my Clefairy steal it?" asked Lucy.

Lucy's Clefairy rubbed her hand behind her head. She sure hoped that she didn't make that Parasol Lady in the audience too angry.

Fearow fainted. His wings were all wet, too.

"I guess it's time for me to send out another Pokemon." stated Chris as she withdrew her fainted Pokemon. Preferably one that would do better against Poliwrath than Fearow did.

Clearly, her Charizard was out of the question despite it being flying type. Poliwrath would douse out his fire, alright.

"Go, Jynx!" exclaimed Chris. Maybe if she was lucky she would jinx her opponent so that he would lose. But maybe not.

"Jynx jynx jynx..." murmured the ice Pokemon.

"What kind of Pokemon is that?" questioned Kiyo. He hadn't seen a Pokemon that looked like a human before...other than the Machop family.

"It is a rather unusual Pokemon..." noted Chris. Usually Pokemon did not look like humans. They looked like...something else.

Nonetheless, she got the feeling that it would be effective. She had an idea on how to counter Poliwrath's Surf.

"Use Ice Beam!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

When Poliwrath used Surf again, Jynx used Ice Beam to freeze the tidal wave.

"Poliwrath?" questioned the water Pokemon. He wasn't expecting the water to freeze so fast. Apparently, Chris's Jynx was rather strong.

Jynx then followed by using Lovely Kiss to make Poliwrath fall asleep.

"Poliwrath..." murmured the sleeping water Pokemon.

Chris smiled. Now was her chance!

"Use Psychic!" ordered Chris.

Jynx hit Poliwrath with Psychic.

"Jynx!" exclaimed the ice Pokemon.

"Poliwrath!" bellowed the water Pokemon as he was pummeled by the psychic waves.

Poliwrath fainted.

"Poliwrath..." murmured the fainted water Pokemon.

Karate Master Kiyo realized that he was down to his last Pokemon. He had better make this one count.

"Go, Machamp!" exclaimed the karate master.

"Machamp!" bellowed the fighting Pokemon, cracking his knuckles. Hopefully he wouldn't faint so that his trainer wouldn't get kicked out of the tournament. He was looking forward to earning a trophy...even if it was just an empty cup.

"I guess this is his last Pokemon..." stated Chris. It was likely going to be strong.

Immediately, Machamp began to charge towards Jynx.

Fortunately, Chris managed to react quickly.

"Jynx, use Ice Beam!" exclaimed Chris.

Chris's Jynx froze Machamp in his tracks.

However, when she attempted to use Lovely Kiss, Machamp slapped her away.

Not only that, but it appeared that it was only a matter of time before Machamp's legs thawed out.

"Jynx!" exclaimed Chris's Jynx.

It looked like Chris was going to have to try to use a different Pokemon to lull Machamp to sleep.

She had just the thing.

"Return, Jynx!" exclaimed Chris.

For her final Pokemon she decided to send out her Jigglypuff. She had a good feeling about this.

"Jigglypuff, use Sing!" ordered the female Pokemon trainer.

Jigglypuff nodded, and began to lull Machamp to sleep.

It succeeded.

"Machamp..." murmured the fighting Pokemon. He was taking quite a snooze.

Now Jigglypuff had an opportunity to attack.

Chris decided that she should choose an attack that was devastating.

"Use Hyper Voice!" ordered Chris.

Jigglypuff nodded, and began to use Hyper Voice.

This worked surprisingly well. Machamp was blasted by the sound waves...and rather large sound waves at that.

"Machamp!" exclaimed the champion Pokemon as he was hit by the sound.

Ultimately, Machamp ended up fainting, thus making Chris the winner.

"Jigglypuff!" cheered Chris's Jigglypuff. She won!

Immediately, she began to jump up and down. She was feeling rather excited.

That, and since she was a balloon Pokemon she could jump rather high. She was rather bouncy.

Chris smirked. She was going to the third round of the tournament. No doubt her parents would be proud of her.

"I guess it's time for me to head back to training. Thanks for the battle though." stated Karate Master Kiyo.

"You're welcome..." answered Chris.

"I think maybe I'll head to Johto...I hear that it's a rather lovely place..." acknowledged the black belt.

"It probably is..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"Way to go, Chris! You're heading into the third round of the tournament!" cheered Ned.

"That is something to be excited about..." agreed Chris.

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter...in the next one, Ned's going up against Ash Ketchum and Lucy's going up against...her own father. How about that?_


	63. Chapter 63: Father And Daughter

_In this chapter, Ned's going up against Ash and Lucy's going up against her dad. This is a bit like the gym battle against Norman in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, eh? Of course, Lucy's not going to get a gym badge...she already has eight._

_And yes, Ash will be using his Pikachu...and Ned will be using his Raichu. This is a bit like Ash's battle with Lt. Surge, isn't it? Of course, for some strange reason Raichu was the only Pokemon Lt. Surge had...you'd be under the impression that he would have more Pokemon._

**Chapter 63: Father And Daughter**

For deciding who would get to fight who in the tournament next, the staff decided to use a random name generator.

As it turned out, Ned was going up against...Ash Ketchum, the boy who wanted to catch them all. Personally he wondered if any Pokemon trainer had ever done such a thing. It certainly would be a challenge.

"How about that..." stated Ned. Apparently, he was competing in the tournament too. It wasn't much of a surprise considering that Ash was rather competitive. He simply loved battling Pokemon.

Of course, after seeing Ash Ketchum in action, he realized that it was not going to be an easy fight. He had better take caution in fighting him if he wanted to win. Pikachu in particular would probably be the most troublesome. He was strong and fast.

Nonetheless, he supposed that it was something to be excited about. It was nice getting to battle his friends, and of course trade with them. You never knew what Pokemon you were going to get.

Of course, his Charizard would probably be a problem too...though oddly enough he heard that his Charizard was in fact rather weak for a member of his species. Of course, it was only a rumor.

As for the arena, they were going to be fighting in a jungle arena. Victreebel would probably feel right at home there. Bellsprouts liked living in the jungle, and so did their evolutions. Of course, they were willing to live in grasslands too close to cities. They didn't mind Pokemon trainers catching them.

Maybe if he was lucky they would let him eat some bananas. Jake's Primeape would probably enjoy fighting in that arena if he got the chance to.

Sure enough, there was Ash Ketchum, whose Pikachu was eating tomatoes. Apparently, he liked ketchup.

Suddenly, two suspicious looking staff members approached him. They both looked rather familiar. One of them was male while the other was female. The male had blue hair while the female had red hair.

"Would you mind if we inspect your Pikachu before you enter the arena? We need to make sure that he's in shape..." explained the male employee.

"Alright." stated Ash.

For strange reason, Ned got the feeling that he had seen it before.

As it turned out, it was none other than Team Rocket. They were trying to steal Pikachu...again!

Immediately, they stepped into their hot air balloon.

Sure enough, Meowth was waiting for them inside the balloon. He was feeling very excited.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Pikachu. Once again he had fallen right into Team Rocket's clutches. They simply would not leave him alone. It was very annoying.

Of course, so were Jessie and James. They were always looking forward to stealing Pokemon from their trainers.

"This is perfect! We're finally going to get to send Pikachu to Giovanni! He'll be so proud of us!" exclaimed James. With Pikachu's electric power being harnessed Team Rocket would be unstoppable!

"He'll even give us a raise!" bellowed Jessie.

"Pika pi!" shouted Ash's unfortunate Pikachu.

However, Ned pointed out something that was rather important.

"You do realize that Giovanni got arrested, right?" questioned Ned. Personally he wondered what they were going to do without him. They had been part of Team Rocket for quite some time, even if they never really rose through the ranks.

Jessie and James gasped in shock. As it turned out, they had already forgotten that. Team Rocket was disbanded at this point...aside from a branch at the Sevii Islands. Maybe they should try paying them a visit and tell them the bad news.

"Now who are we going to send Pikachu to?" questioned Jessie.

"I suppose we could use him to pay our electricity bills..." answered James. They were getting rather expensive these days. Alternatively they could try selling him to a criminal other than Giovanni.

"Pika pi..." stated Pikachu. Where did they even live? He knew that James did not desire to live at his parents' mansion...even if it was rather luxurious.

"I can't let you do that." answered Ned.

However, he noted that Team Rocket was getting away rather quickly. He needed to send out a Pokemon and fast.

But as it turned out, he didn't need to lift a finger.

At that very moment, Ash sent out his Pidgeot.

"Pidgeot, I choose you!" exclaimed Ash.

"Pidgeot!" bellowed the bird Pokemon, flapping her wings in the air.

Immediately, she pecked the hot air balloon causing it to begin to lose air.

She then took Pikachu out of the basket.

"Pika pi!" cheered Pikachu. Once again it looked like Team Rocket had failed to capture him. No wonder Giovanni thought that they were incompetent.

Unsurprisingly, Team Rocket was sent blasting off again.

"It's a good thing that we managed to arrest Giovanni..." remarked Ned. That way there weren't more criminals like Jessie and James in Kanto.

Still, he wondered how Jessie and James had managed to give Officer Jenny the slip. It was rather peculiar. Maybe she would catch them one day.

"You ready to fight in the arena?" questioned Ash.

Ned nodded. He didn't come to the tournament purely to spectate...though he did watch the battles when he wasn't actually in a battle. They were rather entertaining. No wonder the tournament was so popular.

Immediately, they went to the jungle arena.

For his first Pokemon, Ash naturally decided to send out his Pikachu.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" exclaimed Ash.

"Pika pika!" bellowed Pikachu, leaping off of Ash's head.

In retaliation, Ned decided to send out his Raichu. Maybe Pikachu's evolved form would be able to defeat Pikachu.

At first glance, it looked good. Raichu was taller than Pikachu was, and he could store more electricity, making his electric attacks all the more potent. Adding to that, Raichu was not claustrophobic like Pikachu was, which could come in handy.

However, it seemed doubtful that Ash would give up that easily. He was rather hot-blooded...much like his partner. If his Pikachu was up against a Raichu, he wasn't going to back down. After all, he had managed to defeat a Raichu with his Pikachu once before.

incidentally, the Raichu in question belonged to Lt. Surge...who Ned had of course defeated twice.

Ned decided to start out by having Raichu use Thunderbolt.

"Thunderbolt!" ordered Ned.

Fortunately, Raichu got to go first.

Raichu nodded, and attempted to zap Pikachu with his thunderbolts. In other words, he was giving him a taste of his own medicine.

However, Pikachu was anything if not agile, and he quickly raced around the arena to avoid them. It was a good thing that he was not a big target...though admittedly his small size did make it harder for him to take down large opponents.

Not only that, but the trees in the jungle arena were intercepting the jungle bolts.

Raichu wondered where Pikachu was going. Was he leaving the arena? He was under the impression that Pikachu was braver than that.

He got the feeling that Pikachu was up to something...but what?

Suddenly, Raichu found himself being attacked by a Thundershock from a distance.

"Rai rai chu!" exclaimed Raichu. Pikachu was very strong for a member of his species. He could only imagine what would happen if he ever decided to use a Thunder Stone to become a Raichu.

Ned instructed Raichu to hunt Pikachu down. He couldn't hide from Raichu forever.

Raichu nodded, using his nose to try to pick up Pikachu's scent.

Suddenly, Pikachu hit Raichu with Iron Tail.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the electric Pokemon. That one was a critical hit.

He then followed with another Thundershock.

Raichu fainted.

"Raichu..." murmured the fainted rodent Pokemon. He wished that he was that strong when he was younger...though admittedly Lt. Surge did train him well as a Raichu.

"Darn it!" bellowed Ned. He had already lost his first Pokemon. And to think that he thought that he had the advantage too. This was going to be harder than he thought.

"Pika pi!" exclaimed Pikachu. He had managed to take on his evolution and win...just like his battle with Lt. Surge. Maybe he was simply getting the hang of things.

Ned decided that he might as well send out another Pokemon...one that would have an advantage against Pikachu so that he could defeat him easier.

He had just the Pokemon for that.

Immediately, he recalled his fainted Raichu into his Pokeball.

He then sent out Golem.

"Golem!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon.

Ash Ketchum noted that electricity attacks would have no effect on Golem. In other words, Pikachu was not a good matchup for this battle.

As such, he decided to withdraw.

"Pikachu, return!" exclaimed Ash.

Pikachu returned back to Ash.

"Squirtle, I choose you!" exclaimed Ash Ketchum.

"Squirtle!" bellowed Ash's Squirtle. Where was the fire?

Suddenly, he noticed the Golem. He then realized that he was up against a rock Pokemon instead of a fire type.

Well, that worked for him too.

"Oh man..." murmured Ned. Once again, he was a type disadvantage.

Immediately, Squirtle squirted Golem with a Water Gun, hitting her face.

"Golem!" exclaimed the rock Pokemon. Her rock-hard defenses were unfortunately not effective against water-type attacks.

Ned decided to have Golem use Rollout. Maybe he could attack Squirtle without getting squirted.

Golem entered her rock shell and started rolling around the jungle.

However, Squirtle darted to the side and Golem ended up falling into a pit.

"Golem?" questioned the rock Pokemon as she exited her shell. Why wasn't she rolling?

Suddenly, Squirtle hit Golem with Hydro Pump.

Golem fainted on the spot.

"Golem..." murmured the rock Pokemon. How did she faint so suddenly? Perhaps her opponent had a better shell than she did, even if he was the smaller Pokemon.

"Squirtle!" cheered Ash's Squirtle. His Squirtle Squad would be so proud of him for helping his Pokemon trainer defeat his opponent's Pokemon.

Ned sighed. Now he was down to his last Pokemon. He wasn't doing well this time. Perhaps his luck had run out.

In order to beat Squirtle, he withdrew Golem and sent out his Victreebel.

"Go, Victreebel!" exclaimed Ned.

However, Ash retaliated by withdrawing Squirtle and sending out Charizard.

"Charizard!" bellowed Ash's Charizard.

"Good grief..." murmured Ned. First Squirtle vs. Golem and now this.

Charizard used Flamethrower on Victreebel, and she fainted.

"Victreebel..." murmured the grass Pokemon. She didn't even manage to hit Charizard before the attack struck.

"Ash Ketchum is our winner!" exclaimed the announcer.

Ned sighed. The tournament was fun while it lasted. At least he managed to beat Jerry...though he had the feeling that he wasn't going to last long in the tournament.

Sure enough, his friends were disappointed. However, they were also happy that Ash had managed to win. Now he was going to be able to compete further. Not only that, but he was in the top 32.

On the lighter side, he got to register his Pokemon in the Hall Of Fame...just like everyone else that had lost already.

His first Pokemon was of course his Eevee, since it was his first Pokemon.

This was then followed by his Nidoqueen. Incidentally, his partner had a Nidoking. He supposed that made sense...though he wondered why he ended up with a female Nidoran while his partner ended up with a male one. Sometimes catching Pokemon was crazy like that, he guessed.

And then his Gyarados which he had gotten as a Magikarp from a Magikarp Salesman. Speaking of which, he saw him outside selling Magikarp to unsuspecting Pokemon trainers. Maybe he should do something about it after he left the Indigo Plateau and went back home.

Then of course his Golem. He sure sent her out a lot...such as the battle he was just in a few moments ago.

And then his Victreebel. She certainly was awfully affectionate. Sometimes he wished that she would show some restraint for a change.

And his Arcanine. He wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to lick him in his face.

Which was followed by the Raichu that Lt. Surge had given him as a Pikachu.

Then his Venonat appeared onscreen.

And then his Chansey that he had caught in the Safari Zone. Maybe she would work with Nurse Joy one day like a lot of other Chanseys.

This was followed up with his Omanyte. Maybe he should use that Pokemon more often.

Which was followed by his Seel that he had rescued from the Magikarp Salesman...that was the second Pokemon that he had obtained from him.

"I sure have caught a lot of Pokemon, haven't I?" remarked Ned. He supposed that he should be rather proud of himself. Of course, he would probably be catching more Pokemon sooner or later.

At that very moment, Lucy, Jake, and Chris showed up.

"We're sorry that you lost, Ned..." stated Lucy.

"Clefairy..." murmured Lucy's Clefairy. This was rather depressing. Fortunately, she had a tissue box...which oddly enough she did not steal.

"Maybe you could participate in another Pokemon tournament..." answered Jake. Alternatively, he could wait for the next Indigo Plateau Conference.

"I'm sure you'll manage to win a tournament some day..." remarked Chris. Of course, that what was SHE was planning.

Ned noted that his friends were all still in the tournament. Maybe they would do better than he did. Maybe not.

Suddenly, a man approached Lucy.

"Huh?" asked Lucy.

"I just wanted to let you know that you're up against...Arthur Hisakawa." stated the man.

Lucy gasped in surprise.

"That's my dad..." stated Lucy.

"Oh really? I didn't even know that Arthur Hisakawa had a daughter...anyways, he's a rather famous Pokemon trainer so you're probably feeling glad that you're related to him..." noted the Indigo Plateau employee.

Lucy nodded. Where else would she get her skills?

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. This was going to be a battle between father and daughter, it seemed. It was going to be rather suspenseful.

Of course, Chris did go up against her mother in the tournament.

She decided to go outside to visit her father. He would likely be eager to see her.

"You're competing in the tournament too?" questioned Lucy.

"Well, I am an expert Pokemon trainer..." explained Lucy's dad.

"You make a point..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer.

"I was hoping to see how far you had advanced as a Pokemon trainer anyway..." stated the man.

Lucy supposed that she HAD come a long way.

"Do you know what the arena is going to be?" questioned the young girl.

"It's going to be a volcanic arena..." explained Lucy's father. In other words, it was suited for fire type Pokemon. Grass and ice Pokemon would not like being in that arena.

"Alright then..." nodded the female Pokemon trainer. She had better make sure that her Pokemon didn't get burnt.

As for Lucy's father, he of course was going to be using his Arcanine.

Speaking of which, Arcanine suddenly came in.

"Arcanine!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

Immediately, he licked Lucy on the face.

"Hahaha! That tickles!" laughed Lucy.

Clefairy noted that she and Arcanine had a few things in common. They had both been with their Pokemon trainer ever since the beginning of their Pokemon journey...and they were still using them after all this time.

Of course, Arcanine did not appear to be a kleptomaniac like she was.

Immediately, Lucy and her father entered the arena.

Meanwhile, Lucy's mother (Cindy Hisakawa) was watching her husband and her daughter battle it out on TV.

"What were the chances? It looks like honey pie and my little angel are battling in the tournament! It's going to be rather exciting...though I do note that it's going to be hard to pick who to root for..." remarked Cindy.

"Well, whoever wins, I'll be proud of them!"

"I'll never give in! You killed my father's business!" bellowed Lucy.

"No, I am your father." answered Lucy's father.

"Nooooo!" screamed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. How could this be? Of course, Lucy did inherit things from her father such as her skill at fighting with Pokemon.

Suddenly, Lucy and Arthur snapped back to their senses.

"What were we saying again?" questioned Lucy.

"I guess we got carried away for a second..." stated Arthur.

Lucy nodded.

"Anyways, shouldn't we send out our Pokemon?" questioned Lucy.

"I'll go first." stated the man.

"Go, Arcanine!"

"Arcanine!" bellowed the fire Pokemon. It seemed appropriate since he was already outside his Pokeball. Of course, he wasn't in his Pokeball to begin with. Though he did not dislike Pokeballs like Clefairy did, he liked to run around his trainer's mansion. He had to be careful not to bump into anything, but fortunately he had learned to control himself.

Since her father was sending out his starter Pokemon, Lucy decided to send out hers.

In this case, she sent out her Clefairy.

"Go, Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy as she entered the battlefield.

As soon as she entered, she began to feel rather sweaty.

"Clef..." murmured the fairy Pokemon. They weren't kidding when they mentioned that this arena was going to be volcanic.

Curious, she noticed that her opponent didn't seem to be affected by the heat at all.

Oh, that was right. He was a fire type.

Unfortunately, she was at a terrain disadvantage.

Well, Lucy decided that she might as well use Metronome. That was a rather reliable Pokemon technique.

"Clefairy, use Metronome!" ordered Lucy.

Clefairy nodded and used Metronome to attack Arcanine.

Shortly afterwards, a tidal wave appeared.

However, Arcanine leaped right over it...and on top of Clefairy.

"Clefairy!" bellowed Lucy's Clefairy. This wasn't good.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Lucy.

He then used Flamethrower on Clefairy.

Clefairy fainted.

"Clefairy..." murmured the fainted Pokemon.

Arthur's Arcanine then picked up Clefairy and handed her to Lucy.

"Thanks..." stated Lucy.

Now that Clefairy had fainted, she needed to send out another Pokemon.

What Pokemon did she have that was super effective against Arcanine? Grass Pokemon such as her Venusaur were clearly off the table...though admittedly she would not mind the sunny weather.

She began to think.

She then remembered that she had a Golduck.

"Oh, that's right." stated Lucy.

Immediately, she sent out her Golduck.

"Go, Golduck!" exclaimed Lucy.

Even with a type advantage, she got the feeling that Arcanine was not going to be an easy opponent. Of course, she couldn't expect anything less from her father.

"Using a water type? Rather clever..." stated Arthur.

However, Arcanine knew more than simply fire type moves.

Immediately, he instructed Arcanine to use Sunny Day.

Lucy quickly realized that she had a problem. In the hot sun, water types weren't as powerful.

On the other hand, fire types were much more powerful.

When Lucy attempted to have Golduck use Hydro Pump, all he ended up producing was steam.

"Oh man..." murmured Lucy. That was one hot sun. Good thing she brought sunscreen.

Suddenly, Arcanine shot out a Solarbeam at Golduck.

"Golduck!" exclaimed the water Pokemon. He was not expecting Arcanine to use a grass-type move.

Golduck fainted.

"That's two Pokemon down..." remarked Lucy. She was starting to wonder if she was going to be eliminated from the tournament.

Well, she decided that she should try fighting fire with fire.

"Go, Ninetales!" bellowed the female Pokemon trainer.

"Ninetales!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon as she materialized from her Pokeball.

"Using another fire type? Very well...Arcanine, use Take Down!" ordered Arthur.

Arcanine nodded and lunged towards Ninetales.

Likewise, Lucy instructed Ninetales to do the same.

In Ninetales' case, she ended up getting a critical hit.

Both Pokemon ended up fainting.

Unfortunately for Lucy, this left her out of Pokemon. Her father had won.

"Aww..." murmured Lucy. Well, at least her father would get to continue onwards.

Sure enough, Jake, Chris, and Ned went to comfort her.

"It looks like you got booted out of the tournament too, huh?" asked Ned.

"Yeah..." nodded Lucy.

"Maybe you'll do better next time." stated Jake.

"I will admit that your father is a rather strong Pokemon trainer..." answered Chris. Apparently, he was an even stronger Pokemon trainer than she was. She would have to be careful if she were to ever face him.

"He sure is." answered the female Pokemon trainer. Maybe she would become as strong as he was one day.

For now, it was time for her to head to the Hall Of Fame. Thank goodness that she wasn't heading to the Hall Of Shame.

Her first Pokemon to show up was of course her Clefairy. She wouldn't have become a Pokemon trainer without her.

Next up was her Pidgeot. She had caught her not long after she had caught Clefairy.

Then it was Venusaur...who she noted that she had ever since she was a Bulbasaur. Oddly enough, she had not gotten that Pokemon from Professor Oak.

And then it was Alakazam. He certainly was a smart Pokemon. Of course, Lucy had come up with a plan to catch it, so she was rather smart herself.

Her Dugtrio appeared onscreen next.

This was followed by her Ninetales. She had better not touch her tails. She wasn't interested in being cursed. Of course, there was a possibility that Ninetales wouldn't curse her own trainer, but she didn't want to risk that.

Up next was her Golduck that she had adopted from Mr. Fuji.

Then she witnessed her Dratini appear onscreen. She thought that being in the Safari Zone was rather fun, though she did admit that she found it hard to catch Pokemon there sometimes. She had to risk them fleeing if she tossed a rock...and she also made it harder for her to catch them if she gave them bait instead. Besides, she would never do the former.

Of course, she also heard that the Safari Zone in Hoenn had decided to make it so that trainers could catch Pokemon the old-fashioned way. Maybe she could try catching Pokemon there if she even went on vacation. She never knew when her father or mother was going on a business trip.

And then it was her Lapras that she had gotten from Silph Co. Hopefully she could breed them at a Pokemon Daycare so that they could reproduce. They were getting rather rare in the wild these days, though fortunately the Lapras that already belonged to Pokemon trainers were doing rather fine.

She then witnessed her Ponyta appear onscreen.

"It's been a good run!" exclaimed Lucy. Maybe she would go on another Pokemon journey one day.

For now, she was going to watch Jake and Chris's Pokemon battles.

"This is going to be fun to watch..." remarked the girl.

_Oh dear! It looks like both Ned and Lucy have been kicked out of the tournament! It looks like Ash and Arthur are going to be continuing in the tournament, not them. Well, we might as well see if Chris and Jake are still in this...but can they manage to defeat their opponents?_

_You'll find out in the next chapter. You're probably looking forward to it._


	64. Chapter 64: Smell You Later

_In this chapter, we're going to see how Chris and Jake fare against their latest opponents. I enjoyed working on this story, but as you can probably guess it's going to end soon. That doesn't mean I won't write more Pokemon stories though. Can you guess who Chris's opponent is going to be?_

_You can probably tell by the title. And in case you were wondering, Jake's not going to send out his Grimer this time. Heh heh heh._

**Chapter 64: Smell You Later**

After a while of watching matches (some of which had very surprising outcomes), it was Jake's turn to face an opponent. He was feeling rather pumped. Once again he was going to get to face another opponent...another opponent that had eight gym badges like he did. How many people went on Pokemon journeys, anyway?

He wondered who was going to win the tournament and get a trophy to take home. He certainly hoped that the winner was a person that the audience could relate to. Wouldn't want the winner to end up being booed out of the Indigo Plateau. That would make their victory rather redundant.

Of course, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Lucy and Ned. They had both been eliminated from the tournament. Apparently that was the end of their Pokemon journey. Not that there was any shame in losing to Ash Ketchum and their own father. They were rather strong Pokemon trainers...especially Arthur Hisakawa. Something told him that he just might be able to win the tournament.

He was curious as to who his opponent was going to be this time. Since there were still a large number of Pokemon trainers competing in the tournament, there were a lot of possibilities.

Immediately, Jake stepped outside to where his opponent was. There was no telling who it was going to be this time, though considering that they had managed to defeat two other opponents like he had they were likely an experienced Pokemon trainer.

To his surprise, it was the nemesis of all Team Rocket Grunts. What a coincidence. Of course, the authorities were scattered all across Kanto so it wasn't exactly hard to find them.

It was none other than Officer Jenny. Strangely enough, he heard that she had relatives all across the Pokemon globe. How many sisters did she have? It just might be the biggest family ever...or on at least on par with Nurse Joy's family.

Jake realized that he had a problem. Officer Jenny knew from experience how to deal with criminals...and he was a Pokemon criminal once.

"I was here to investigate whether anyone was cheating in the tournament...so I figured I might as well participate." stated Officer Jenny. Strangely enough, she had not arrested anyone ever since she had arrived at the Indigo Plateau. Of course, she heard a rumor that Jessie and James had shown up, but since they had a tendency to blast off she probably didn't need to worry about them.

"Interesting..." said Jake.

"I have to admit, Kanto's been practically crime-free ever since Team Rocket's been arrested...though a few Team Rocket Grunts are still on the loose..." remarked the officer.

"Yeah..." nodded the young Pokemon trainer. It looked like his efforts to defeat Team Rocket had paid off.

"I didn't know that you fought gym leaders..." answered Jake.

"Well, I have a lot of badges..." remarked the officer.

"Oh, right..." remarked the twelve-year-old. Officer Jenny was apparently good at her job...just like the rest of her sisters. She reminded him of Nurse Joy.

"So...are you going to be on your best behavior?" questioned the police officer. Of course, she knew that Jake was no longer working with Team Rocket...but she wanted to make sure.

"Of course." nodded Jake. He was not the type of person that would cheat in a tournament.

"Good." nodded Officer Jenny.

"By the way, are your sisters watching you compete in the tournament?" asked the boy.

"As a matter of fact, they are. They're thrilled that one of them is getting a shot at getting a trophy." stated the officer.

Immediately, Officer Jenny and Jake went to the arena. There was no use dilly-dallying.

The arena in question resembled a street...similar to the ones that Officer Jenny regularly patrolled.

"Is Jake being arrested?" questioned Lucy. If so, she was very worried. She was under the impression that he would behave himself during the tournament.

"Actually, Jake is fighting Officer Jenny in the tournament." explained Ned. He had been worried about that for a second too...but ultimately there had been nothing to worry about...except for Team Rocket if they were still in the area.

"Oh..." stated the girl. Now that she thought of it, Officer Jenny was a Pokemon trainer herself. Participating in a Pokemon tournament did make sense...though she wondered when Officer Jenny was ever offduty.

"Clefairy..." said Lucy's Clefairy. She had better not steal anything while she was around. Otherwise she would get in trouble. Did Officer Jenny arrest Pokemon when they didn't behave themselves?

Of course, Lucy got the feeling what Pokemon Officer Jenny was going to use first.

"Go, Growlithe!" exclaimed Officer Jenny.

Her hunch turned out to be correct.

"When Officer Jenny's around a Growlithe isn't far away, huh?" asked Lucy.

"Maybe I should introduce them to my Arcanine..." suggested Ned. He was likely a Pokemon that the Growlithe would look up to.

"Growlithe!" bellowed Officer Jenny's Growlithe.

Immediately, he went up to Jake and started sniffing him.

"He really likes sniffing people, doesn't he?" questioned Jake. It seemed likely that he recognized people and Pokemon by scent.

"Well, I did train him to track by scent..." answered Officer Jenny.

Growlithe licked Jake in the face.

"How cute..." remarked Lucy.

"Clefairy..." stated Clefairy. Did she mean like her?

Officer Jenny pulled out her whistle and sent Growlithe back to her.

Since Growlithe was a fire type, Jake decided to counter by using his Blastoise.

"Go, Blastoise!" shouted Jake.

"Blastoise!" bellowed the water Pokemon.

"A water Pokemon, eh? I suppose I should probably pick a Pokemon that can counter that..." acknowledged Officer Jenny. She had a variety of different Pokemon depending on the situation that she was in.

However, Officer Jenny noted that Growlithe was much faster than Blastoise was...since of course Growlithe was not carrying his house on his backside. Neither did Officer Jenny. She simply drove there to reunite with her sisters after a day's work.

She decided to use it to her advantage.

Immediately, she had Growlithe run circles around Blastoise.

"Blastoise?" questioned Jake's Blastoise. What exactly was Jenny's Growlithe planning?

One thing was for certain...he was moving awfully fast. She supposed she should have expected as much from a Pokemon that ran around on all fours.

She kept on trying to keep an eye on Growlithe...and she got dizzy.

"Blastoise..." murmured the turtle Pokemon.

"Oh no..." stated Jake. This was rather unfortunate. How was she supposed to attack Growlithe with her hydro cannons now?

Now that Blastoise was vulnerable to attack, Jenny had Growlithe use Take Down to knock Blastoise over.

"Growlithe!" bellowed the fire puppy.

"Not good..." remarked Jake.

He then bit Blastoise in the neck, inflicting a critical hit.

On the lighter side, Blastoise managed to get back up...

...but Growlithe simply knocked her back down again with Take Down. He was very strong for his size. No wonder he was on Officer Jenny's police force.

This was too much for her. Blastoise fainted.

"Blastoise..." murmured the water Pokemon. That was one tough Growlithe. Officer Jenny certainly had raised him well. Of course, he had helped her hunt down various Pokemon criminals, such as Team Rocket Grunts for instance. Jake was lucky to have eluded her, even if he had been only part of Team Rocket for a few weeks.

Jake sighed. So much for the type advantage.

Immediately, he withdrew his fainted Pokemon. Unfortunately, Officer Jenny was in the lead at the moment.

Maybe he should try sending out a different Pokemon that also had a type advantage.

He decided to send out his Marowak.

"Go, Marowak!" exclaimed Jake.

"Marowak!" bellowed the ground Pokemon. It looked like he was going to be participating in the tournament again. There certainly were a lot of Pokemon to fight.

Immediately, he instructed Marowak to toss bones at Growlithe. Naturally, they would do more damage since fire types were weak against ground types. He knew that already.

But of course, he simply caught them in his mouth. He was up for a reward after taking down that Blastoise, so why not?

"Darn it!" bellowed Jake. He supposed that he should have suspected as much from that particular Pokemon. At least he seemed to enjoy the treats.

"Growlithe, use Flamethrower!" ordered Officer Jenny.

Growlithe nodded, and used Flamethrower to attack Marowak, shooting fire out of his mouth.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the skull Pokemon. Those flames were really hot.

Unsurprisingly, he ended up being burned...it hurt. No wonder his mother told him not to play with matches while he was growing up...back when she was still alive.

"Try using Bone Club..." stated Jake.

Marowak nodded, and lunged at Growlithe with his Bone Club.

"Marowak!" exclaimed Marowak as he ran towards Growlithe.

However, Growlithe simply caught the bone with his mouth and started chewing on it.

It was a rather delicious bone. No wonder Marowak had picked it out.

"Marowak!" exclaimed the bone Pokemon. That bone was precious to him.

Frantically, he started trying to shake Growlithe off. He was NOT going to steal it from him.

Eventually, he succeeded.

"Growlithe..." murmured the sad puppy Pokemon. He hadn't finished eating it.

He then whacked Growlithe on the head with his club.

Growlithe fainted.

"Growlithe..." murmured the fire Pokemon. Well, Officer Jenny still had two more Pokemon.

"Alright!" exclaimed Jake. Now it looked like he and Officer Jenny were tied.

However, shortly afterward, Marowak fainted from his burn.

"Marowak..." murmured the fainted Pokemon. Next time he was going to wear sunscreen. He might want to put on some sunglasses while he was at it to shield his eyes.

"I guess it's time for me to use my next Pokemon." stated Officer Jenny.

Immediately, she sent out her Meowth.

"Meowth!" purred the Meowth.

"That's a rather cute kitty..." remarked Lucy.

"Clefairy?" questioned Lucy's Clefairy. Was it cuter than she was?

"What? No no no. You're just as cute...though I wouldn't mind having a Meowth one day." stated Lucy.

Clefairy nodded in agreement...though she wondered if Lucy could handle having two kleptomaniacs on her team instead of one. Admittedly Lucy did generally keep her kleptomania under control. Besides, she was almost done gathering material to repair her spaceship.

"You have a Meowth?" asked Jake.

"It's not hard to catch one when you have as many shiny badges as I do." remarked Officer Jenny.

"Oh, that's right..." nodded the boy. Meowths were rather fond of shiny objects.

Since Officer Jenny was a normal type, Jake decided to send out a fighting type.

That Pokemon was his Hitmonchan.

"Hitmonchan!" exclaimed Hitmonchan.

Immediately, Jake had Hitmonchan use Mach Punch.

However, Meowth simply ducked underneath it...or should we say Psyducked?

"Meowth sure is small, isn't he?" questioned Lucy.

This unfortunately made him a rather difficult Pokemon for Hitmonchan to hit..even if his name WAS Hitmonchan.

Since Hitmonchan was having a hard time hitting Meowth, Officer Jenny decided that it would be a good time to go on the offensive.

"Use Fury Swipes!" ordered Officer Jenny.

Meowth nodded, and used his claws to start attacking Hitmonchan.

"Hitmonchan!" bellowed the boxing Pokemon. Those claws were rather sharp. Did Officer Jenny have a scratching post?

Unfortunately, it was a rather prolonged assault.

Hitmonchan fainted.

"Officer Jenny is our winner!" exclaimed the announcer.

On TV, Harold Kurosawa let out a sigh. Still, he was feeling surprisingly good after seeing his son compete in the tournament. Perhaps his life wasn't so bad after all.

"I think it's been a good run..." stated Jake.

It was time for him to enter the Hall Of Fame.

First up was his Grimer, his starter Pokemon...as his friends all knew at this point.

Then it was his Raticate.

And then his Primeape.

Which was followed up by his Vileplume.

That was followed by his Blastoise.

Then his Machamp showed up. Unsurprisingly, she was flexing her muscles onscreen. She was a real powerhouse, that was for sure.

His Marowak was next to appear.

His Kangaskhan appeared next.

And then his Hitmonchan. He certainly enjoyed boxing, that was for certain.

Then his Hypno appeared onscreen. Maybe he would be fun at parties.

Finally, it was his Magmar.

"I wonder how Chris is going to do...she's the only one of us that's still in the tournament..." stated Jake.

At that very moment, Chris showed up.

"Do you know who you're going to be facing?" questioned the twelve-year-old.

"I'm up against Gary Oak." explained Chris.

"Isn't he the son of the Pokemon professor?" inquired Jake.

"As a matter of fact, he is..." answered the female Pokemon trainer. She was feeling rather excited for the battle.

Apparently, the arena they were going to be fighting in was a forest...an autumn forest. It seemed appropriate considering that Gary's last name was Oak.

Unsurprisingly, Gary Oak had a wide smirk on his face. From the looks of it, he thought that he was going to win the tournament.

Chris decided that maybe she could prove him wrong. Either way, she got the feeling that she was going to enjoy the fight. She was a rather competitive Pokemon battler, after all.

"Let's do this!" exclaimed Chris.

"This will be a cakewalk!" bellowed Gary Oak.

Immediately, Gary Oak sent out his first Pokemon.

That Pokemon in question was his Exeggutor.

"Time to make an omelette." remarked Chris as she sent out her Fearow.

"Fearow!" bellowed the bird Pokemon as he materialized from his Pokeball. He was up for some worms right about now. Of course, nowadays there were gummy worms designed specifically for Pokemon. The wonders of culinary, eh?

Gary found it ironic that she was sending out a bird pokemon against an egg Pokemon. It seemed like Fearow would rather nest with his eggs instead of fighting eggs...of course, Fearow did have a type advantage.

Since grass type attacks were out of the question, Gary decided to have Exeggutor use psychic attacks instead. Fearow wasn't resistant to those.

"Fearow!" bellowed the flying Pokemon. Unfortunately for him, Exeggutor's psychic powers were rather strong. It was not going to be easy to approach him so that he could hit him with his beak.

Perhaps it would be better if he tried to attack him from a distance instead of approaching him where he could use his psychic powers on Fearow's mind easier. He wasn't looking forward to having a headache after the battle.

"Maybe you could try hitting him with a gust of wind?" suggested Chris.

Fearow nodded. That was not a bad idea.

Immediately, he used a gust of wind to disorient Exeggutor.

"Exeggutor..." murmured the grass Pokemon.

He then followed by using Drill Peck on Exeggutor.

"Exeggutor!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon. That really hurt. No wonder Chris was using Fearow for this battle.

"Gotcha!" bellowed Chris.

However, Exeggutor was not done yet.

After regaining his senses, he hit Fearow with an Egg Bomb.

"Fearow!" exclaimed the bird Pokemon. Who would have thought that eggs would be explosive?

Exeggutor then followed by using Stomp on Fearow's head.

Fearow fainted.

"Fearow..." whispered the fainted bird Pokemon. If only he had a harder noggin. What if he had been born an Aerodactyl instead? Of course, Aerodactyls were extinct regardless of how effective they were in battle. It was rather ironic.

"Darn it!" exclaimed Chris. It appeared that simply because she had a type advantage didn't mean that she was going to win.

Satisfied with his work, Gary Oak decided to switch out his Exeggutor for Nidoqueen. He decided that he would shake things up a bit.

Chris decided to send out her Kabuto. She figured some of her newer Pokemon should have a chance to shine.

"Kabuto!" exclaimed the fossil Pokemon.

"Aren't you supposed to be extinct?" questioned Gary.

"Kabuto?" inquired the armored Pokemon. He was wondering where his relatives had all wandered off too.

"No matter! Just because you're still alive after all this time doesn't mean that I can't beat you!" bellowed the son of a Pokemon professor.

"We'll just see about that..." stated Chris.

Immediately, Gary instructed Nidoqueen to use Horn Attack.

However, Kabuto instinctively blocked it with his shell.

"No wonder you're millions of years old..." remarked Chris. That certainly was a powerful defense.

"Kabuto?" inquired the shellfish Pokemon. He had only been five when he had fallen into that tar pit. He had been rather clumsy back in the prehistoric day.

Of course, that clumsiness was the reason why he was here now, so he figured that maybe being clumsy wasn't so bad. Best not to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth. He didn't want to get burned anyway, though as a water and rock type he would be rather difficult to burn.

Since Nidoqueen clearly couldn't get past Kabuto's shell (not with her horn, at least), Chris decided to take advantage of the situation.

She decided to have Kabuto use a water attack since Nidoqueen was part ground type.

"Use Surf!" instructed Chris.

Kabuto nodded, and sent a tidal wave of water after Nidoqueen.

"Nidoqueen!" exclaimed the water Pokemon, falling on her back.

Kabuto noted what a pain it was to fall on his back, though he still found having a shell being worth it. Without it, he and his kind would have gone extinct a long time ago.

Well, it was a good thing that it didn't happen to him this time.

"Now use Bubblebeam!" ordered Chris.

Kabuto nodded, and followed up his attack by shooting several bubbles.

"Nidoqueen!" exclaimed the ground Pokemon. She was taking a beating.

"Use Body Slam!" bellowed Gary.

Nidoqueen nodded. Maybe THAT would beat Kabuto.

She decided to leap on top of Kabuto.

However, as it turned out, he could simply use his shell to protect himself from that too. Chris was starting to wonder how Kabuto went extinct. However, she had heard rumors that Kabutos weren't so extinct after all along with Omanytes. You never knew.

Kabuto then shot mud at Nidoqueen.

"Nidoqueen!" exclaimed the poison and ground type Pokemon. Now she had mud in her eyes. If only she had something that she could use to wash it out.

Nidoqueen attempted to Stomp Kabuto, but she missed and ended up tripping.

Kabuto hit Nidoqueen with Bubblebeam again, and Nidoqueen fainted.

"Kabuto!" cheered the fossil Pokemon. He was glad that his trainer had decided to send him out on the battlefield. Why catch a Pokemon if she wasn't going to use it later?

"Nidoqueen..." murmured the fainted Pokemon.

Gary was rather disappointed. Kabuto was much smaller than his Nidoqueen was, and yet she had lost anyway. Well, the larger Pokemon didn't always win. That was what Professor Oak had told him anyway.

It was time for him to send out another Pokemon...a Pokemon that could get past Kabuto's defenses.

Maybe he could try using his Exeggutor again. Maybe he would come in handy.

"Go, Exeggutor!" stated Gary.

"Exeggutor!" exclaimed the grass Pokemon. He was feeling a bit tired after his battle with Fearow, but he supposed that he could deal with it.

"That presents a problem..." noted Chris. Wouldn't want a psychic barrage. That would hurt.

Kabuto started to worry about his chances against Exeggutor. He had a really bad type disadvantage.

"Maybe i should switch out my Pokemon..." stated Chris.

Immediately, she withdrew her Kabuto and decided to go for a Pokemon that would have an advantage.

She decided to go for Charizard.

"Charizard!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

"There we go!" bellowed Chris.

Immediately, she had Charizard use Flamethrower on Exeggutor.

"Exeggutor!" bellowed the grass Pokemon. That really hurt.

Exeggutor attempted to Stomp Charizard in retaliation...but he only succeeded in having his foot bitten.

"Exeggutor!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon. That wasn't fun either.

Charizard hit Exeggutor with his wings, and Exeggutor fainted.

"Exeggutor..." murmured the fainted grass Pokemon.

"You like type advantages, huh? Why don't I send out my Golem?" questioned Gary as he withdrew his fainted Exeggutor.

"A Golem?" questioned Chris.

Immediately, he sent out his Golem.

Before Chris could withdraw her Charizard, Golem rolled into Charizard, causing him to faint on the spot.

"Charizard..." spoke the fainted dragon Pokemon.

"I didn't think that you of all Pokemon would faint this quickly..." remarked Chris.

Charizard noted that sometimes he messed up...but at least he was humble unlike his former Pokemon trainer.

Since Charizard had fainted, it seemed like the only Pokemon that she could use now was her Kabuto.

Well, she might as well since he had a type advantage as opposed to Charizard.

"Go, Kabuto!" exclaimed Chris.

"Kabuto..." murmured the fossil Pokemon. He was feeling tired after his battle with Nidoqueen...but he would try to hold on.

"Golem, use Rollout!" ordered Gary.

"Use Mud Shot, Kabuto!" exclaimed Chris.

Both Pokemon attacked each other at the time.

Oddly enough, both Pokemon fainted simultaneously. Perhaps Kabuto had gotten lucky and had hit Golem's weak spot.

"Does that mean it's a stalemate?" questioned Chris.

"I think we need a tiebreaker!" exclaimed Gary.

The battle announcer wondered what to do in that sort of situation.

Fortunately, Chris came up with an idea.

"Why don't we send out our starters?" questioned Chris.

"Not a bad idea!" exclaimed Gary.

The announcer nodded. That was not a bad idea at all. It worked for him.

Immediately, Chris sent out her Jigglypuff while Gary sent out his Eevee.

"I thought your starter Pokemon was Squirtle..." murmured Professor Oak.

"You spoiled the Johto tournament arc!" complained Ash Ketchum.

"Sorry..." apologized Oak.

"In this fanfic my starter is Eevee..." explained Gary.

"Whatever..." answered Chris.

Quickly, Chris instructed Jigglypuff to use Sing...

...but Eevee bit Jigglypuff before she could do so.

Jigglypuff promptly deflated.

"I take it that means you fainted?" questioned Chris as Jigglypuff gradually reflated herself.

Jigglypuff nodded.

"Darn it! I lost the tiebreaker!" bellowed the teenage Pokemon trainer.

"Ha! I win! Smell you later!" exclaimed Gary.

"Well, that's all four of us..." remarked Jake.

It was time for them to all go home, it seemed.

For now, Chris was going to insert her Pokemon in the Hall Of Fame.

First up was her Jigglypuff.

Then it was her Fearow.

And then her Beedrill.

Her Nidoking appeared onscreen next.

Which was followed by her Charizard.

And then her Parasect.

Her Onix appeared onscreen next.

Up next was her Gengar.

Her Snorlax showed up next. As usual, he was hungry.

This was followed by her Shellder.

Which was followed by her Tauros.

Her Hitmonlee was next to appear onscreen.

And then her Kabuto. Maybe she would find more fossils someday. You never knew what you could find.

Last was her Electabuzz.

"Time for me to head home...which isn't far away, oddly enough. It's kind of weird..." remarked Chris.

Lucy nodded. It was time for them to all head home.

It had been quite an adventure.

Maybe they would go on another adventure like that someday.

Besides, even if they hadn't won the tournament, they had still gone up against evil and had won. That was something to be proud of, right?

They had made the world of Pokemon a better place.

_And Jake and Chris have both left...well, all that's left now is the ending. I bet you're probably excited for it. Of course, I think I just might write a sequel for this fanfic of mine. There are other Pokemon regions that I haven't covered yet, after all._

_You're probably disappointed that none of my characters won the tournament...but knowing how much I like Pokemon they're probably going to be participating in other tournaments sooner or later. Maybe then they'll be able to win._


	65. Chapter 65: Spaceship Ride

_This is it! The final chapter! I bet you've been looking forward to it. It's time to end this fanfic once and for all. And yes, it will include an explanation to what happened to each of the characters. This includes the antagonistic characters such as Jerry and Giovanni._

_Personally I think that it's been a nice run. I finished at sixty-five chapters...sort of like a Disney cartoon, huh?_

**Chapter 65: Spaceship Ride**

Lucy was the first to arrive home. Jake had decided to walk her there before heading back home himself to make sure that she stayed safe. Fortunately, it appeared that with Team Rocket gone Lucy had nothing to worry about. It seemed like Team Rocket's disbandment was the best thing that had ever happened to Kanto.

"It's good to be back home after so long..." remarked Lucy. She was starting to feel homesick. Perhaps she could visit her mansion occasionally while she was out on long Pokemon journeys. It would alleviate the stress.

Sure enough, Lucy's parents were there to greet her. It looked like her Pokemon journey was finally at an end...and the only thing left to do now was to head back home and reunite with her mother and father.

Naturally, they were very excited now that their daughter was finally home. She had managed to defeat eight gym leaders and enter the Indigo Plateau Conference. That was certainly something to be proud of.

"It's so good to have you back!" exclaimed Lucy's mother, hugging Lucy tightly. She knew that Lucy was going to return home sooner or later.

"Good job at the Pokemon League!" bellowed Lucy's father. She certainly was his daughter, alright. Of course, he wouldn't mind even if Lucy didn't become a Pokemon trainer, though admittedly she was his only child.

Immediately, Lucy smiled as her mother gave her a hug. It felt good to be reunited with her...though she was in fact reunited with her father not too long ago. He had managed to beat her in the Pokemon tournament.

"It's nice to see you again too, mother. It's been a long Pokemon journey, hasn't it? It looks like after all this time I finally get to go home..." remarked Lucy. They had gone all across Kanto in order to get various gym badges. They also had also faced various gym leaders, including Giovanni himself. Who would have thought that he of all people was a gym leader? Of course, he did specialize in ground types similar to what other gym leaders specialized in, so maybe she shouldn't be too shocked.

Clefairy nodded. It certainly had been fun while it lasted. They even got to participate in the Indigo Plateau Conference. That was a Pokemon trainer's dream come true.

At that very moment, Lucy's parents noticed Jake. They were rather happy to see him as well.

"Thank you for saving our daughter from Team Rocket!" exclaimed Lucy's mother.

Immediately, Lucy's mother gave Jake a hug. Jake wondered if this was how children felt when their mothers hugged them since his mother was deceased.. If so, it was a very pleasant experience.

Suddenly, Lucy remembered something.

"Did you ever manage to get enough materials to repair your spaceship?" questioned the girl. If not, they might have to continue their Pokemon journey after all.

Clefairy nodded. It should be operational now. Now she would be able to soar through the skies once again, much like she did before.

Immediately, Lucy and Jake followed Clefairy to where her spaceship was. It looked new and improved since the last time Clefairy had used it.

"Alright...be careful not to crash your spaceship this time, will you?" inquired Lucy. She didn't want any more accidents.

Clefairy nodded again. She wouldn't want it to crash again after all the work she put into repairing it.

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Huh? You want both of us to ride in the spaceship with you?" questioned the girl.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy. She thought that would be fun. She wouldn't have been able to repair her spaceship without their assistance, after all.

"Alright, if you say so." stated Lucy. Hopefully Clefairy would be a bit more careful this time. She needed to watch the skies.

Clefairy decided that since Jake was Lucy's friend, he could come with. She had been with Jake almost as long as she had been with Lucy, after all.

Immediately, she pressed a button and the top of the spaceship opened up so that they could climb inside. Clefairy had made the inside of the spaceship more spacious to accommodate multiple guests.

Fortunately, she included seatbelts in her spaceship in case they crashed again. Since Clefairy was rather resilient she didn't really need to worry about injuring herself when she crashed her spaceship, but she was wearing a seatbelt regardless.

Immediately, the spaceship began to take off.

"Whoa!" bellowed Lucy. That spaceship certainly was fast. No wonder Clefairy used it to get across space.

She just hoped that they weren't arrested by Officer Jenny for speeding. Of course, it wouldn't hard for her to pay a speeding ticket on account on how rich she was...but she figured that she should obey traffic laws regardless.

They decided to visit Pallet Town first, since it was the closest to Lucy's mansion.

Sure enough, Professor Oak noticed as he stepped outside his laboratory. He sure hoped that it wasn't some sort of alien invasion. He hadn't noticed anything suspicious last night when he had used his telescope.

Quickly, he determined that the spaceship in question belonged to a Clefairy.

Of course, it helped that the spaceship in question was pink.

"Smell you later!" bellowed Gary as the spaceship left Pallet Town. He just loved saying farewell like that.

Much like Lucy had, he had been beaten by Arthur Hisakawa in the tournament. How did he ever get so strong? He wished he were that good of a Pokemon trainer.

Nonetheless, he had been a graceful loser. His skill as a Pokemon trainer was impressive.

Inside his house, Daisy was grooming Pokemon. She simply loved doing that. Perhaps she had inherited her love of Pokemon from her father. Perhaps she should try researching them like he did. She might learn something about Pokemon that her father had not.

"Does our spaceship smell?" questioned Lucy as Gary said his farewell. She wondered why Gary kept saying that.

Clefairy was under the impression that she had taken the spaceship to a local car wash not too long ago. Theoretically it SHOULDN'T smell. Of course, people had gotten suspicious as to why a wild Pokemon were using the car wash...but Clefairy had paid them so they didn't make a big deal out of it.

They decided to visit Viridian City next. Once again, the old man that they had encountered earlier was there. This time he was complaining that alien spaceships were flying above his property.

"Why can't those aliens leave me be?" inquired the old man.

He didn't seem so grumpy now that Giovanni had been arrested, however. Perhaps people could sense his evil presence.

"I sure hope that grumpy man will be alright..." stated Lucy. Sometimes she worried about him.

Jake nodded. It would probably be best for him to watch his blood pressure. Was he taking medicine?

Next stop was the Viridian Forest. Since there were flying Pokemon living in the forest, they could witness several of them flying by. The Pidgeys and Spearows were both traveling in flocks.

"Isn't this forest where I caught my Caterpie?" questioned Lucy. They went to this forest on the way to Pewter City. It had been rather early on in their Pokemon adventure.

Jake nodded. Of course, she was a Butterfree now. Some bug Pokemon certainly grew up fast. Chris's Weedle had not stayed a Weedle for long either, after all.

Fortunately, none of them crashed into the spaceship. It was a good thing that Clefairy had decided not to activate its cloaking feature. She had installed that since she had the freedom of redesigning her spaceship after the crash.

Her next stop was to Pewter City. Brock wished that there were pretty girls inside the spaceship. Maybe if he was lucky pretty Pokemon trainers would show up in his gym trying to get the Boulder Badge.

Also, they got to visit the Pewter Museum from up above. They were still showing off Pokemon fossils, it seemed. Perhaps they should head to Cinnabar Island so that they could actually revive those fossils. But if they wanted to show them to the general public, it was probably fine not to.

Afterwards, their next stop was to Mt. Moon. The Clefairies were rather happy to see a Clefairy spaceship. It made them feel rather excited. Perhaps they should try building spaceships themselves. They just had to worry about staying on Officer Jenny's good side.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed the wild Clefairy. They sounded a lot like Lucy's Clefairy, unsurprisingly. However, Lucy was able to distinguish them from her Clefairy regardless.

Of course, several of the Clefairies had spaceships themselves, though some of them were in fact born on Earth instead of on the moon.

Cerulean City was up next. Misty was currently swimming in her pool. It was nice and refreshing. Maybe she should send out her Pokemon so that they could swim with her.

Her sisters were currently relaxing outside the gym. They were thinking of making a play featuring the Misty Mermaid. Naturally, Ned would love seeing Misty in a seashell bikini.

Also, Jerry was fighting another Pokemon trainer. He was sending out his Slowbro against a Raichu. He never learned.

Unsurprisingly, Raichu hit Slowbro with a Thunderbolt to make him faint. As one could imagine, he was by far the faster Pokemon, so he got to attack first.

"Raichu!" exclaimed the triumphant mouse Pokemon. He was so happy that his trainer had given him a Thunder Stone. Now he could realize his full potential.

"Way to go, Raichu!" exclaimed the girl. This was her seventh consecutive victory.

"Slowbro..." murmured the fainted water Pokemon. He wondered why he kept losing battles. Maybe his trainer should try sending him out against a rock or a fire type.

Jerry stamped his hat in frustration. How many times was he going to lose Pokemon battles? He blamed his Pokemon on everything.

"Take it easy..." stated the girl that he had lost to. She was under the impression that Pokemon matches were simply for fun.

Afterwards, they went to visit Bill. Fortunately, he had not accidentally turned himself into a Pokemon again. It would have been embarrassing to meet him again like that.

Currently, he was designing a system that could transport Pokemon from across different Pokemon regions. It was something to be excited about.

This was followed to a visit to Vermillion City. Lt. Surge wondered if he could ever have a battleship like that. It would be awesome having state-of-the-art technology that he could use to defend his homeland.

They decided to visit the Diglett Cave next. There were several Digletts popping out from the soil. Apparently they liked fresh air every now and then, though they weren't friends with the sun.

"Diglett!" exclaimed a wild Diglett. They simply loved digging. They had even managed to dig their way to Pewter City. It certainly provided Pokemon trainers with a useful shortcut.

Lucy wondered why there weren't any other Pokemon other than Diglett inside the cavern. It was rather unusual.

They then went to visit Celadon City. As usual, Erika was sniffing the flowers...which was making her rather sleepy.

Immediately, she began to yawn. Maybe she should limit how often she smelled them. They did smell rather pleasant though. Besides, her grass Pokemon loved them.

They decided not to visit the Rocket Casino since it gave them some bad memories, though the Team Rocket Grunts were all gone at this point. However, they did note that it might be fun to gamble there sometime.

Next stop was Lavender Town. Fortunately, it didn't seem as spooky now that Team Rocket was gone. Of course, there were still ghosts inside the Pokemon Tower...but not everyone was afraid of them. After all, they were selling Silph Scopes en mass at the Silph Co nowadays.

Of course, they were disappointed that they had discontinued the Master Ball project, but apparently there were no certainties in life, including catching Pokemon. Besides, what if some crazy criminal went and used them to catch legendary Pokemon? Then the world would be in big trouble.

They also visited the Rock Tunnel. Luckily, the Onixes left them be, and so did the Zubats. Of course, most of the Zubats were currently sleeping. They were always taking a snooze upside down. It would probably best not to wake them up so that they didn't get cranky.

Fuchsia City was their next destination. They wondered if, had Clefairy's spaceship been repaired, they could have used it to fly over the Snorlax that was blocking their path earlier.

Well, Chris had caught him, so they didn't have to worry about him now. Of course, she was in charge of feeding him, regardless of how big his appetite was.

Currently, Koga was training his daughter Janine. She certainly was doing rather well. Some of her Pokemon had even evolved.

Suddenly, he received a message from the mail.

Taking a closer look, he realized that it had come directly from the Pokemon League.

Apparently, he had been chosen to be a member of the Elite Four. It was quite the honor.

"A member of the Elite Four?" inquired Koga. Who would have thunk it?

This made him feel rather excited. Now he could get the opportunity to face some really strong Pokemon trainers.

However, this left the problem of who was going to run the gym while he was gone. He couldn't simply let Pokemon trainers waltz in and take the Soul Badge. Otherwise their Pokemon wouldn't become more experienced.

Fortunately, he had an idea.

"Hey, Janine! Why don't you look after the gym while I head to the Indigo Plateau?" asked Koga. Surely the gym would be in good hands.

"You sure I can handle it?" questioned Janine. She had a feeling that she would be in charge of Fuchsia Gym one day...but to honest, she didn't really know what to do with the gym once she obtained ownership.

"Of course you can! At this point you're almost as strong as I am!" bellowed the ninja master. Janine in fact might become a member of the Elite Four herself one day.

"Really? Alright then." nodded the kunoichi. If her father thought that she could do it, she wasn't going to let him down. However, she wondered if she should add extra challenge to the gym besides invisible walls, even if trainers did keep bumping into them.

They also visited the Safari Zone. The warden was outside, with his granddaughter helping him search for his dentures. Apparently, a wild Pokemon had found them and had decided to keep them for themselves. It was rather inconvenient for him. How would people understand him without the dentures?

They decided to visit the Cycling Road next. The bikers felt jealous that a Pokemon trainer was riding a spaceship instead of a bike. They certainly made their bikes seem outdated.

Afterwards, they went to Saffron City. Fortunately, Silph Co. was safe from Team Rocket now that they had managed to defeat their leader Giovanni.

However, they noted that they appeared to be increasing their security. Perhaps they wouldn't be able to explore the building like they did earlier.

Sabrina was currently focusing her psychic powers. She was getting pretty good at using them. However, she wondered if Karate Master Kiyo was going to challenge her again. Rumor has it that there was a Pokemon type that was excellent at taking down psychics.

They then went to Cinnabar Island. Fortunately, it appeared that the volcano wasn't going to erupt yet. Otherwise things would get rather messy. How would Blaine run a Pokemon gym if it melted?

There were several swimmers swimming nearby. Nothing like a good swim close to an island.

Speaking of which, he was currently outside. He was thinking of new questions that he could ask Pokemon trainers. Perhaps it would be best if he thought of something creative.

Suddenly, he noticed Clefairy riding the spaceship. That gave him an idea.

Maybe he could ask Pokemon trainers which Pokemon rode a spaceship? That might stump them. Of course, how many Pokemon were actually space aliens?

Lucy, Jake, and Clefairy also went to visit the Sevii Islands. As usual, they were lovely this time of year. However, they wondered when Islands 4-7 would be open up. They were rather curious.

Strangely enough, a warehouse appeared to be under construction. They wondered who was building it. It gave Clefairy bad vibes.

They then went to visit Seafoam Islands. Articuno was circling around it.

"Brrr..." murmured Lucy. It had gotten cold inside the spaceship all of a sudden. Perhaps Clefairy needed to raise the temperature.

They also visited the Power Plant. Strangely enough, people were actually starting to enter it. Perhaps it wasn't going to be abandoned anymore.

Zapdos had decided to nest outside so that the people entering the building could do what they wished. The various Pokemon inside had decided to do the same thing as well. They were rather intrigued by what they were doing.

Clefairy decided that it would be best not to get too close to Zapdos. Otherwise, the spaceship might end up short-circuiting. That wouldn't be fun.

Not only that, but she would have to repair her spaceship all over again.

They also went back to visit Mt. Ember. Moltres was circling the summit.

"Is it getting hot in here?" questioned Lucy. She was sweating all of a sudden. She sure hoped that Clefairy had remembered to turn on the air conditioning.

"Clefairy..." remarked Lucy's Clefairy. Perhaps it would be best if they flew away from Mt. Ember instead of heading towards it.

Strangely enough, she noticed two Team Rocket Grunts at the base of the mountain. She thought that Team Rocket had disbanded...maybe they didn't get the memo?

Eventually, Clefairy headed back to where Lucy's house was. She was careful not to make her spaceship run out of fuel so that they didn't end up crashing again. That would be embarrassing.

"So...is this goodbye? I know that you used to live at the moon along with your fellow Clefairies..." stated Lucy. It was rather lonely.

Clefairy thought about this for a moment. She did admit that whenever she gazed at the moon she couldn't help but think of her home...

...but at the same time, she had a lot easier time making friends on Earth than she did on the moon. Her Pokemon trainer did catch a lot of Pokemon that she had made friends with.

Eventually, she came to a decision.

"Clefairy!" exclaimed Lucy's Clefairy.

Once again, she grabbed onto Lucy's back, much to her surprise.

"Huh? You want to keep being my Pokemon?" said Lucy. She was under the impression that Clefairy would want to go back to the stars...but apparently not.

Clefairy nodded. To be honest, she liked it better on Earth than she did on the moon. It was a lot more lively on Earth. Besides, on earth she didn't have to worry about a meteor bonking her on the noggin.

"Alright then. You think you can send Jake back home now?" questioned the girl.

Clefairy agreed. It was time for each and every one of them to head back home.

"I'm glad that I got to accompany you on your Pokemon journey, Lucy." stated Jake. It was nice having a friend at his side.

"It was my pleasure!" exclaimed Lucy. It had been very exciting, especially with her partner around. She would love to go on a Pokemon adventure again.

Immediately, Jake waved goodbye as Clefairy took him back home. Fortunately, she had already memorized where he lived.

Sure enough, his father was waiting for him in Celadon City. His house was tidier this time around.

He was surprisingly cheerful. Perhaps he was happy that Jake had managed to make it to the Indigo Plateau.

"Congratulations on stopping Team Rocket...now I can finally get some peace and quiet..." remarked Jake's father. Sometimes he needed to get some rest. Now that Giovanni had been arrested, he hadn't heard anything from Team Rocket on the newspapers. Before it seemed like they were always on the headlines.

"Yeah...I bet Celadon City is a lot better with them gone..." nodded Jake. People were certainly going to be proud of him. Maybe they would want his autograph.

Meanwhile, Chris back home to visit her mother and father.

Unsurprisingly, her mother gave her a big hug.

"Take it easy! I'm having a hard time breathing!" exclaimed Chris.

"Sorry, honey!" apologized Chris's mother.

"Thank you..." stated the girl as her mother finally let go of her.

Ned went back to his father and mother in Saffron City. As usual, they were researching Pokemon.

"Anything new?" inquired Ned. He was always interested in his parents' studies.

"Well, we've noticed that there are more evolutions to Eevee than previously thought..." stated Ned's father.

"Really? My Eevee might be interested in that." noted the boy. Of course, his Eevee had never seemed interested in evolving. Some Pokemon liked to remain the way they were.

That, or they simply didn't evolve at all.

Meanwhile at Kanto Prison, Giovanni sat in his cell. Maybe one day his loyal supporters would break him out. But for now, he looked like he was stuck in prison...he certainly had many years ahead of him. There was a reason why Officer Jenny spent a lot of her time hunting her down, after all. She was rather excited when his hideout in Celadon City had been uncovered, to say the very least.

"You better not be plotting world domination in there!" warned a prison guard from outside the cell.

"Of course not..." answered Giovanni. What was the point of plotting world domination if he was stuck in prison along with many of his followers?

Lucy headed back into her mansion along with her Clefairy after she returned in her spaceship.

"So...did your Clefairy get to go back home on the moon?" questioned her mother.

"Actually, she decided that THIS was her home." explained Lucy.

"Oh..." stated Lucy's mother. She found it sweet that Lucy's starter Pokemon wanted to remain with her trainer.

Currently, her father was hanging up a trophy. Apparently, he had managed to win the Indigo Plateau Conference. Lucy couldn't say that she was surprised. Her father was a really strong Pokemon trainer...he had years of experience, after all.

At Cerulean City, Jerry was sitting in his room plotting his revenge against that losers Chris and Ned. He would get even with them someday. It would serve them right for making him lose the Indigo Plateau Conference.

"They think that they can make a fool about me? Think again!" bellowed Jerry Yamaguchi. He simply could not stand a blow to his ego.

But for now that would have to wait. Chris and Ned's Pokemon journey was over, which meant that they wouldn't be battling Pokemon for a while.

But knowing them, they would go on more than one Pokemon journey...that would be his opportunity to strike.

Alternatively, he could try heading to another Pokemon region. That way he wouldn't even have to worry about Chris and Ned.

That seemed like the better option.

Afterwards, Lucy invited her friends so that they could take a picture together.

They sent out all their Pokemon so that they could be in a group picture.

"Smile!" exclaimed Lucy's mother.

CLICK!

Sure enough, each of them appeared in the picture.

THE END

_Well, that was the fanfic for you. I hope you enjoyed it. And yes, Clefairy is going to stay at Lucy's side. She's not going to head back to the moon. How would her Pokemon trainer breathe on the moon, anyway?_

_Well, I hope you're looking forward to my next fanfic._


End file.
